Our Days Together
by InuChimera7410
Summary: A rare insect from the Makai has emerged in the human world that literally drains the life energy from their victims. When the YYH gang become involved, Hiei is cornered and rather than having his life energy taken, his demonic ki is stolen instead. In the chaos of it at all, he even ends up physically bounded to a naïve human girl. What else could go wrong? HieiOC
1. The Most Non Ideal First Meeting

Chapter 1: The Most Non-Ideal First Meeting

"George! Come here _now!_" Koenma waved the thick report in his hand wildly.

"Lord Koenma, sir?" George tripped to the toddler's side in alarm, "What's wrong?"

Koenma slapped his hands on his desk, "Retrieve Botan this instant! We have a new crisis on our hands: we must act immediately!"

George scratched his hands with worry, "Is it really that dire sir?" The sound of scraping rubber squeaked throughout the room.

"For now, it isn't, but if we don't do something quickly- I don't want to think about it!" Koenma moaned and clutched his head.

George was stunned. Koenma hadn't looked this worried since the Sensui ordeal! Koenma suddenly paused in his severe teething and glared at the blue demon with fiery eyes. He began to yell madly .

"You imbecile! What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

"Oh! Right, sorry sir!" and Ogre stumbled out the door.

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei had been lounging on a tree when he heard the familiar annoying voices approaching. They were hard to forget- believe him, he's _tried-_ the ferry girl's , Botan, and the moron Kuwabara. He wasn't about to go greet them of course; he didn't even like them. Especially Kuwabara.

With effort, he forced himself to try and doze off, but despite his best attempts their voices were just too loud and obnoxious, and after a long while he conceded that he would _never _be able to get rest anywhere near them.

Growling under his breath, he prepared to relocate himself until a new voice suddenly joined the chorus- Yusuke. Hiei hesitated. There must've been a reason for the small gathering. Against his preferred judgment, his curiosity took over and he settled back down. Why would the three of them be out in the middle of the night and -unfortunately- _here_?

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Yusuke casually greeted the duo until Hiei was graced with sudden shrieking.

"Thirty minutes Yusuke! _Thirty minutes! _I never said anything about being two hours late!" She barreled for him, her wooden oar raised threateningly. Yusuke held up his hands in a meek defense.

"Wait Botan! Don't get mad. On my way I walked by Keiko's and I dropped in to say hi." He grinned cockily. Botan gazed at him suspiciously, but her weapon drooped.

"A likely story," she sniffed sourly. Kuwabara on the other hand was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh ho! Urameshi, that's just like you- sneaking into a girl's room this late at night." He inched close to Yusuke's ear, "So how much _fun_ did you have?"

Hiei watched in amusement as Kuwabara went sailing through the air via Yusuke and landed at the base of his tree. Botan ran up to Yusuke and began to wildly beat him, the oar attacking his head.

"How dare you Yusuke!" she squawked, "You're such a pig- and to _Keiko_ no less!"

Yusuke was finally able to escape her assault, confiscating her weapon in the process and his face was twisted in anger and embarrassment.

"What are you saying? I'd never do something to Keiko! You guys are out of your minds," he yelled defensively. Botan only glared more fiercely.

Hiei watched as Kuwabara, seemingly ok despite the purple welt that was quickly swelling on his face, strolled back up to Yusuke, cheerfully slinging an arm around his shoulders. He chuckled.

"Don't worry Urameshi. We all know you wouldn't do it anyways. I mean you were just getting beat up by a girl too-" It was a one way to the tree again and Hiei sighed at the sheer stupidity of the situation. Yusuke was seething enough not to notice that this time Kuwabara was out cold. Botan went to snatch her oar back.

"Keiko's to good for him." she muttered darkly.

Yusuke's eyes crossed and he began shaking his fists at her, "Hey if you've got something to say, say it to my face."

Botan ignored him, and she shifted gears. She became completely serious.

"Stop fooling around. We need to get to the Spirit World. We're already so late thanks to someone..."

Yusuke glared, but she continued as she went to fish Kuwabara out of his funk, "Kurama and Hiei must be there already."

Hiei didn't blink. Now that he thought about it, he had receive a summons but he was in no mood to be bothered for some more troubling business in the human world and he was _not _a slave of that toddler. The whole reason he'd come back to the human world was to get away from Mukuro's unrelenting personality for only a little while for a breather, planning to return in a few days. Certainly not to aid Koenma in another mission to save the humans.

Yusuke looked innocently confused, "What are you talking about? Hiei's up there," and he pointed directly at Hiei although he was still concealed by leaves and branches. Hiei sighed inaudibly. _Damn that detective._ He jumped and landed gracefully beside them. He'd forgotten how far Yusuke had come in terms of progress of adjusting to his demon life. Botan was completely taken aback.

"Hiei? But...didn't you," she stuttered, "weren't you called by Koenma?"

Hiei eyed her in disdain, "I didn't feel like going."

Botan grimaced and snapped, "Listen here Mr. Ego-"

"Spare me." the coldness in his voice froze her," I don't have the patience to listen to your whining right now anyways. So if you don't mind,"

And with a rustle of leaves, he vanished. After a moment, Botan growled, her pride wounded.

"The _nerve._"

Yusuke chuckled, "Come on, that's Hiei for you. Can't ever figure that guy out. Let's go, I bet he's already there."

~.~.~.~.~

In no time at all, Hiei arrived in Koenma's office where he was immediately greeted by Kurama who smiled gently, twisting a red rose absentmindedly in his fingers.

"You took your time. But I suppose that goes for everyone else as well." Kurama chuckled.

"Hn. So what does Koenma want us to dirty our hands with now?" said Hiei.

Kurama shook his head, "I have not been informed, but it sounds like we're about to be."

A troupe of voices could be heard approaching Koenma's double doors and they slid open smoothly, revealing four squabbling figures. Looking exasperated beyond relief, Botan dragged herself in followed by a now conscious Kuwabara, covered in the rear by a bickering Yusuke and Koenma. Koenma was hopping angrily next to Yusuke, ranting non-stop, but Hiei only tuned them out.

In mid hop, Yusuke caught Koenma from the side of his head, giving him a hard noogie.

"How do you like that!" Yusuke cackled evilly as Koenma struggled with tears in his eyes, wriggling furiously. A familiar _konk_ resounded through the room and Koenma was dropped. Yusuke wobbled in a daze, a fresh lump forming on his head, Botan standing grimly next to him. She harrumphed.

Koenma scurried to his desk and bounced on his large chair, pressing a small blue button on the right. A thin, transparent sheet appeared around Yusuke's torso and arms and appeared to tighten. Hiei raised an eyebrow.

Yusuke glared at the mini-ruler, "What the hell is this?"

Koenma fixed his hands behind his back ignoring the throbbing in his head, "That, Yusuke, is what I call a spirit bond. I created it myself: spirit energy is packed into a thin, sold elastic-like membrane and can be used to contain even the strongest demons for a set amount of time. For now, it's virtually impossible for you to break the bond, even with your Raizen blood. Now if you will sit quietly like a good boy, and turn to the screen, I'll inform you all of your assignment."

The group watched as the monitor flickered to life and they were looking at a picture of the city. Koenma climbed to the top of his desk, picking up a small remote.

"Now to business, recognize this fellow here?" he pushed a button- the screen flashed to another image, one of a mild sized bug that had a strange green texture to it. Kuwabara bumped his hand in realization.

"Oh I know. Aren't those the bugs that made people into zombie things and when we had to defeat the Four Saint Beasts?"

Koenma nodded, "Precisely, it's the Makai insect, but now look at this," The screen changed again. It was another insect but different. It was smaller and instead of mossy green it was a glimmering violet.

Hiei gazed at the bug, "I've never seen a demon insect like that before. What exactly is it?"

Uneasily, Koenma said, "This isn't the same Makai insect, but they do share a similar root. However, this particular bug works differently and is an entirely different problem. We've started calling them 'Energy Suckers' or ES because of their ability to suck out spirit energy be it human, demon, or other being with life. "

Kurama frowned, "That can be quite a problem."

Hiei looked over the tiny bug, "They don't look like they're too powerful. This is more pest control if anything."

Koenma sighed in dismay, "It's true that individually the ES are not very powerful, but it's their ability to regenerate and multiply when cut. And that's not even the main problem. Up until now, these ES have been an incredibly rare species, almost non-existent if you will. But ever since yesterday, their numbers have shot up dramatically and without warning! The only thing that I can think of is that some is breeding them. But we've only pin-pointed this large mass of ES in the city and around high schools no less. Based on these statistics, we're ranging their prey directed at adolescents from 9 to 21. Of course, they can drain anybody but for some reason they've only been targeting this specific range."

Kuwabara groaned, "But how are we supposed to kill them if we can't cut them?"

Hiei grunted, "Isn't it obvious?" he raised a hand and it began to crackle with fire, "we burn them. This job will be easy."

Koenma nodded, "Precisely, so this is your mission: there are three high schools in this area. Yusuke and Kuwabara are in one, Kurama is attending the second, but we don't have anyone in the third."

Hiei's jagan tingled. He'd just been singled out, which wasn't a good sign. He narrowed his eyes.

Koenma eyed him nervously and Hiei saw a light sweat form on his brow. Koenma's fingers played on the surface by the small blue button. Hiei's eyes twitched. Was he planning to _restrain_ him?

"You will be sent back to your schools like normal, except you are now in charge of subduing the ES, all the while searching for the source. Hiei," Koenma began, but Hiei only stared back at him in absolute loathing; Koenma shivered.

"You'll need to be enrolled in the third school-"

"I refuse." Hiei's face was blank, unreadable, but Koenma could easily guess what he was thinking.

Koenma sighed, pinching his nose and retaliated bravely, "I figured as much." he looked at Hiei in the eye, although it took a lot of courage on his part.

"_Please_ Hiei, I'm practically begging. Whatever is going on is seriously important."

Hiei scoffed, "That doesn't look like begging to me. Do it properly, and _maybe_ I'll consider it."

Botan cried out in indignation, "Don't be ridiculous! Koenma will _not_ beg for you." She stared hard at Koenma, making sure he was not about to acknowledge Hiei's request.

Yusuke sniggered on the floor, "You should bow Koenma, it'd sure make my day!"

Koenma was looking a bit peaky but took a deep breath, "...If you did this Hiei, I swear that I'll never summon for your help again."

Hiei growled. What kind of proposition was that? It's not like Hiei was in Koenma's domain to order anymore. But then again... it did seem that whether Koenma was in control or not, Hiei always came to serve him anyways. The realization made him angry and Hiei unconsciously bared his fangs.

"Fine, I'll go along with your plan" he hissed, "But once this is over, you are never to call on me again."

Koenma closed his eyes in defeat, "Yes..."

Looking utterly spent, Koenma deflated, " Right... Well let's get on with it." He tapped a dial on his remote.

"George, can you bring Hiei's things?" He turned back to face Hiei.

"We've already enrolled you and this mission is to commence immediately."

George paraded into the room with a large bundle, handed it Koenma and fled quickly. Koenma ruffled through it, muttering under his breath. He pulled out three communication mirrors and tossed one to Kurama, one to Hiei, and threw the last one to Yusuke, forgetting a second to late that his hands were still bound to their sides. There was a loud comical smack on his face and Yusuke groaned, cursing. Hiei grinned to himself while the other laughed.

"All right, that should do it. Hiei, catch," the rest of the bundle flew through the air and Hiei caught it with his other hand, peering inside it: some papers and a pile of clothes.

He fished for the clothes and examined them with great distaste. It was a uniform: dark blue pants with a collared light blue button up.

"You must be joking."

"Sorry Hiei, that's the require uniform. You might as well go try it on. I tried to find a small size." the last comment did nothing, but make Hiei feel fouler. Normally, he'd probably have burned the clothes from where he stood, but he figured that he'd only have to stay in the damn human world longer the necessary. He grudgingly strode out the door. So much for returning to Mukuro in a few days.

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei felt ridiculous. He probably looked it too. But his mouth tightened in a grim line. At least he didn't have to wear anything as ghastly as the others, Yusuke and Kuwabara in their blue jump suits, and Kurama in his pink.

When he re-entered the room, several eyebrows and grins arched up in amusement. Kuwabara guffawed and Yusuke rolled around on the floor.

"Ha! You look like an elementary kid-" Kuwabara began but was never able to finish.

For the third time that night, Kuwabara was thrown to the other side of the room and Hiei rotated evilly towards Koenma.

Koenma, avoiding eye contact, coughed into his hand to muffle his giggles.

"Anyways, yes, as I was saying, your mission. Go out and destroy as many ES as possible before they become life threatening to the youth. We already have several students streaming into hospitals. The humans haven't noticed the connection yet, so I'd prefer if we worked fast and get this situation under control as fast as possible. Oh and Botan, you'll be attending school with Kurama."

"Oh, um, ok sir." Botan looked baffled, but nodded anyways.

"Wait!" from Yusuke's seat on the ground he gazed up at the rest of them, "But what about who's breeding the ES?"

"For now, just focus on getting rid of them, but be aware of sources as well. I'll be looking for information on this side too. You all should have your communication mirrors at hand too."

Kurama nodded, "Right. Well then, we should be off." Botan bent to pick up Yusuke by the ear despite his screeching protests of pain.

"Hey I forgot! Take this damn bond thing off of me Koenma, you bastard!"

Koenma remained where he was, "Don't worry it should fade. Eventually." And he waved a hand in farewell.

Hiei rolled his eyes, "Tch, they're all fools."

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei stared at the building. It was still early in the morning. Before coming, he'd already discussed the details of his enrollment with Kurama. He was in class "2-B" and was to fall under the temporary alias of Hiei Sukisho. Students were just beginning to fill the courtyard.

A group of students strolled by in a pack and Hiei could see them pointing and snickering at him. Hiding a sneer, he honed his senses on them.

"Who's the little runt over there by the entrance? He's a funny little thing- he's just been staring at the school all morning!"

"He's kind of creeping me out."

"Ooh, I kind of want to meet him. Come with me!"

"Eh? No way!"

"Careful! He might bight your head off."

Usually, insignificant human remarks such as those didn't bother him, for he never even bothered to listen, but already being on the edge, he felt a nerve snap.

He reached for his sword, only to realize it was absent and cursed colorfully; he enjoyed the fearful glances several young girls flashed at him then.

He began walking towards the group, filled with rage and he took pleasure in the fact that they all ran away squealing.

_I should control myself, _Hiei scolded himself humorously, _I'll just get stuck in this place longer. But,_ he added menacingly to his thought pool, _If I had my way, those human's mental states would be so damaged that their mothers would have to teach them how to walk again._

So absorbed in the retreating teenagers and his thoughts, he wasn't able to register the sudden hard collision and he fell back, landing with a quiet thud.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?"  
>Hiei looked up to see a human girl standing over him, her face apologetic and filled with concern. Her hand was stretched out towards him, as if she were expecting him to take it. Slapping her hand away, he picked himself up.<p>

"I don't need your help." and he walked away. The girl was stricken.

"I really didn't mean to run into him, and I said sorry. What's his problem?" She muttered to herself. She gazed at his back sourly, but just as she was about to turn, she felt her foot tap on something soft.

"Oh-what's this?" It was a small bundle. Rummaging inside it, she pulled out a manila folder. Flipping through several pages, she noted that they were some kind of enrollment forms.

"Hiei..." she whispered quietly, reading the name. _ That must've been the guy I just ran into. He must've dropped his things._

Although frowning at the idea of having to talk to him again, she tucked the papers under her arm and proceeded walking, "Hopefully he'll at least thank me."

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei had lost the damn papers. But he really didn't care one way or another- he couldn't last in this place anyways. Human scent clogged his nose, which reeked, and he didn't even know where his classroom was located. He was perfectly content to roam the hallways, but even then they still weren't completely quiet. All he wanted to do was find a quiet place where no one would interrupt him, his mind far from any 'ES.' Coming to a stair case, he made his way up and was soon at the top, stopping at a door. Curiously, he turned the knob and pushed it open.

A cool breeze touched his face and he saw blue skies. Stepping out onto the roof, he casually shut the door behind him and walked to the edge of the building to peer down. He could see the courtyard and around the other side and an assortment of dirt patches and gates. There were several stray students hustling for the building.

Bored, Hiei strolled to an open space and lie down, enjoying the peace. He stared hard at the clouds.

"What the hell am I doing here?"

[End]

:D The official first chapter is now out! Please enjoy!

Review! XD

-Love InuChimera7140


	2. Of All the Situations

Chapter 2 Of All the Situations

The day passed quickly because by the time Hiei opened his eyes again, he could hear the bustle of students filling out.

_About time,_ he thought. Hi picked himself up and headed for the door, until he saw a abrupt flicker of purple pass by. In a second, he'd reached out for the small color and opened his palm to his face.

The ES was indeed smaller in size compared to the Makai. It twitched in his hand and he suddenly felt a small sting. Almost instantly Hiei felt a small drop in his strength and a light wave of dizziness passed over him. Surprised, he threw the insect to the ground and he blinked. It began to crumble in a blue flame. The outflow of his energy had stopped when he'd released the pest.

The flame smoldered then sputtered out, leaving behind a small mound of ash which Hiei took the liberty of sweeping away with his foot.

"What a nuisance."

~.~.~.~.~

My day was fairly normal. It was just another day at school. Maybe the only ruckus had been the one girl who'd apparently fainted randomly in the hall way and had to be taken to the hospital. She'd probably just come down with some kind of flu that was being passed around. I hope she'd be ok. _But I haven't found that 'Hiei' guy all day..._ I thought, my mind wandering.

"Ren!" I spun around, drawn to the voice that called me. It was one of my classmates, although I felt bad because I didn't know her name. She came up to me.

"Hey, do you know what happened to that girl today? Everybody's talking about it."

"No, but I..." I trailed off, oblivious to her confused glance, as behind her I could see what looked like a head of black spikes.

"Um, sorry. I've got to take care of something." I knew it was a little rude, but I figured I might as well. Despite her protests, I sprinted around her.

"Hey, you- Hiei!" The guy stopped as I jogged towards him. I must've been right when I thought the folder belonged tho him.

"There you are! I guessed you were the same guy from this morning. Why weren't you in class today? The teacher called your name, but you weren't there. Here you must've dropped this," I held out the manila pack. Once he realized what it was, he snatched it from me abruptly and I flinched. What was this attitude?

"It's none of your business." he clipped shortly. His eyes proceeded to roam over me, with an analytical and cold look that made me squirm uncomfortably.

"Look, I'm sorry for this morning if that's what you're so mad about, but I apologized. And I was just looking for you to check if you were alright since you didn't show up for class. Hey wait!" Before I'd even finished, Hiei had already taken to walking away. This guy was seriously pushing my buttons.

"Hiei-" then I was overcome with an odd sensation and I tripped over my feet, landing on my knees. The room began tipping over, and it was as if far away I heard the quick patter of running. And the world became right side up again. I wasn't dizzy anymore, and someone was holding onto my shoulders. I looked behind me, only to catch myself staring straight into Hiei's red eyes. _Red eyes...?_

And he quickly let go. I shook my head, my thoughts feeling fuzzy.

"...Sorry, I don't know what just happened."

"Hn." I could see his fist was clenced and my eyes widened dramatically. It was _smoking!_

"Hiei," I shrieked, "your hand is on fire!"

He smirked, as if he knew something I didn't and I watched as the smoke cleared.

"You talk to much, girl." He walked away, leaving me in my stupified state. I blinked by the time he was down the hall and turning left.

"W-Wait Hiei!" And I went after him, turning the corner as he'd done moments ago. I gaped in utter confusion. He was no where in sight.

~.~.~.~.~.

Soon after Hiei had left the campus, he was met by Kurama and Botan. There were all headed to Kuwabara's house, as they had planned earlier.

"How was your first day Hiei?" Kurama asked conversationally.

"I was up on the roof and caught one of those disgusting vermon. I caught another one after."

Botan slightly gaped at him, "Wait, you mean you only got _two?"_

"Yes."

"Hiei! The whole point of the mission is to be involved inside the school so you can incinerate as many ES as possible. Not just skip! Two is nothing!"

"Hn."

"She has a point Hiei," Kurama added, "There were already five incidents of students succumbing to some type of lathargia, one of which I believe belonged at your school. Botan and I have already caught and destroyed well over twenty. And there are soon bound to be more."

Hiei was silent the rest of the way to Kuwabara's house. The recent conversation had already put him in a foul mood and he didn't particularly enjoy the banter between Kurama and Botan. He just wanted to escape for the day and get away from the noise.

By the time they arrived and situated themselves in Kuwabara's living room, the sun was already setting.

"So Kuwabara and i were able to get a lot of those suckers today! Except we couldn't get to this one girl in time, but I think she'll be ok. It caused a big scene at our school when she suddenly collapsed in the middle of class." Yusuke said.

Kuwabara shivered beside him, "It was the creepiest thing I ever saw. Like a giant mosquitto, except sucking spirit energy instead of blood."  
>"Yes, there were two incidents at our school, but with some rest at the hospital they should be fine. But I don't know about the last one." Botan shot a side glance at Hiei who glared in return.<p>

"Why? What do you mean?" Kuwabra cocked his head.

"Hiei was to busy skipping class on the roof the whole day. " Kurama said cooly, sipping his tea.

Hiei's expression didn't change, "Hn."

"You sound just like me!" laughed Yusuke, until Botan slapped the grin off his face.

"It's not funny. Fortunately, I was able to send out some spirit demons and they've informed me that she's been acting like nothing was wrong, but at first, she was near her death bed. I was already receiving her death report from the Spirit World."

Kurama set down his cup, "That's quite odd how she regained her strength."

"Yes, but apparently (as Koenma has told me) if a bug is carrying an spirit energy from an individual, they can get full and at that point, won't be able to suck anymore till they release it, or rather, pass it on to their Queen. However, that being said, we've drawn the conclusion that if the bug is destroyed before it's actually able to reach the nest, the energy will immediately return to its original host." Botan said.

Hiei crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, "Meaning that one of the bugs I killed must have been the one that absorbed the energy. So get off my case."

Kurama shook his head,"It was quite lucky. But you can't just risk that Hiei."

Hiei growled softly. Why was he being attacked all of the sudden? They had no right to tell him what he should do and not.

"Hn. This isn't worth my time." He leapt to the window and onto the street without so much as a farewell. Kuwabara clambered to the window, but Hiei wasn't there.

Kuwabara looked at them timidly, "You... You don't think we hurt his feelings?"

Kurama chuckled slightly, "No, I don't think that's the case. Although he'd never admit it, I think we've made him feel a bit guilty."

Sighing, Yusuke rubbed his head, "Where do you think he went?"

Kuwabara crossed the room and plopped down next to Yusuke, "Who knows and who cares, because I don't. That guy's such a downer! It's a wonder that Koenma trusts him at all."

"Well that's-" Kurama began, most likely in Hiei's defense, but he was cut off by a series of rings.

"Hm? Oh, it's the communication mirror." Botan smiled apologetically and rummaged in her side pocket, withdrawing the small compact, and flipped it open while the others busied themselves surrounding her.

Koenma popped up on the small screen, his face tight with distress, "Botan!"

"Sir? What happened?" Botan asked worriedly.

"How is the situation so far?"

Botan frowned, "Koenma, we've found many ES in the schools and five students collapsed today."

Koenma whimpered, slumping in his chair, "It's bad enough as it is! We just got word of a rip in dimensions!"

"What! How can that be?" Kurama said, now on high alert.

"We're not just dealing with any normal enemy here. Obviously, they didn't come from Makai or Spirit world, but like an alternate space! " Several moments passed as this sunk in.

"How is that even freaking possible?" yelled Yusuke, pulling at his hair.

"This isn't good. We're dealing with some kind of creature who can actually manipulate space." Kurama said, his face drawn, "Perhaps a shadow demon?"

"What's a shadow demon?" Kuwabara asked.

"There's no time for that! Whoever opened the space let something into the city! We've registered that at least seven apparitions have entered the human dimension. I need you to try and scope them out. And where's Hiei? Under the circumstances, I'll need him to go back to Makai and increase security on the Human-Makai border!"

Botan was sheepish, "Er, well... he left."

"_What?"_

Yusuke shrugged, "Yeah, he got all cranky and left just a minute ago."

"Well don't just _stand _there! Get to it!" Koenma yelled and the screen blinked and they were left in a troubling silence.

"What are we waiting for, an invitaion? Let's go kick some demon ass!" Kuwabara punched the air and Kurama nodded.

"Yes, let's go. There's no time to waste."

"But what about Hiei?" Botan asked, concerned.

"The shrimp can take care of himself for now!" Kuwabara huffed.

Kurama agreed, "Yes, he should be able to handle himself if he gets into trouble. Hopefully... He'll quickly sense the energy and maybe even rendezvous with us, if we're lucky."

Yusuke stretched, "Maybe in the best case scenarious. But Kurama, you should know by now: we have the worst case of luck."

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei had no destination in mind, but it was alright because he simply enjoyed walking. It gave him peace of mind.

_They're all fools._ He continued in his solitary stride, lost in deep thought. Before he knew it, he'd gone into the park and was standing under a large tree with plenty of wide branches for him to rest on. Street lights were beginning to pop on and to his right lay a noble, white fountain. In the center lay a carved statue of a siren, crying, but what also appeared to be singing to a human from underneath a rocky ledge. On top of the carving laid a human reaching out for the siren, although he was on the brink of falling as the rock crumbled beneath him.

_So the siren is leading the human to his death- how typical. They're fools too._ He was intrigued by the sorrow forever etched into the beautiful sculpted face, but he paused when he heard a tiny rustle to the side. His hand snapped to his sword, only to realize it was stilll missing.

"Damn it!" he hissed and whipped around and leapt in the air, his hands smoking with blue heat. With a swipe of his arm, the ES was caught by gravity and it landed in a smoldering heap.

Hiei stared at the charred remains . And then a wave of energy crashed into him, making him freeze up in tension.

"What's this?" There was several point of energy that had suddenly come from nowhere. It was an immense aura- and all points all reeked of demon stench. _No...there's human too._

Hiei crouched, switching into a deffensive position.

"So this is the human world? Wow, it's much nicer then Asami's lair, but it stinks like you Tatsuya."

Hiei turned around and leapt backwards towards the fountain. Figures that hadn't been there before remaind silouhetted in the shadows of the trees, casually looking around. Hiei was shockedo: for a group that radiated so much spirit energy, how had he not been able to sense them right behind him? The shadows dissolved as the moonlight shone down.

There were seven of them. First, a tall, purple lilac haired demon* dressed in traditional robes, then a pair of children, one almost clad entirely in white, a girl who clutched a destroyed bear to her chest and the other in black, a boy, with a long weapon casually resting on his shoulder with a curved blade stretching down the top- a massive scythe. Next were another pair: a man, definitely human (Hiei could smell it underneath the scent of feline ) that was almost inhumanly large. On his shoulder, perched a cat demon girl who was looking quite smug with herself, her tail curling around the man's neck.

Then there was a towering demon draped in a sheey with only a rectangle cut-out for the eyes, like a child playing ghost under a bed sheet. And the last was another human: he was very young looking, perhaps late adolescent and he stood with his arms crossed and a grim smile, his green eyes glimmering dangerously. His sighed.

"Really Aya? Right now? Plus, Itsuki's human too."

The cat on the giant's shoulder purred and mewed, "So? He doesn't smell like you."

The purple haired demon cleared his throat and the way he held himself conveyed to Hiei that he was the leading figure.

"Please, we have company. Pardon us," the demon smiled, but it was void of any inclination of kindness. Likewise. But there was something familiar about the demon, but Hiei couldn't exactly tell why- he was sure he'd seen his face, at least, in someway before.

"I am Minoru and these are my partners." he waved to the others behind him, "The Kuro Kagami and Shiro Kagami, the cat demon Aya and her faithful companion, Itsuki, our own fire demon, Manabu, and last but certainly not least, Tatsuya."

Kuro rolled his eyes, "Come on, Minoru. Can we cut to the chase already?"

There was something odd about a few of them, Hiei observed to himself silently. Around Kuro's neck, a red band lined his skin, along with Aya's, Minoru's, and Itsuki's.

Hiei glared fiercely, "I really could care less."

Several of them didn't flinch except for Kuro and Aya who glared back.

Minoru laughed, "You must be Hiei then, no doubt. And all alone too."

"How do you know me?" Hiei was really wishing he'd had his sword. That way, the mess would be cleaner.

Minoru stepped forward, raising his hand, "Hiei, we did a little research into Koenma's forces before putting our plan into action. You, the fox Youko, or now Kurama, the Raizen descendant Yusuke Urameshi, and the quite barbaric human Kazuma Kuwabara. You all are quite infamous so doing our homework wasn't that hard."

Hiei couldn't help but grin,"At least you have your facts straight."

"Indeed. Kuro," Minoru said.

"Yeah, yeah." Kuro heaved up his scythe and bared it towards Hiei, but instead of attacking he only swept it down. There was a loud ripping noise and a crescent shaped blackness was left in the air. Hiei recognized this, from distant memories of the study of dark arts.

_He can cut through dimensions!_?

Minoru snapped. A swarm of ES erupted from the small opening and Hiei watched how the group only became bigger and bigger until he was facing a full swarm. The tear in space swallowed itself like a black hole.

"You see Hiei, our Lady requires all the spirit energy she can get and we are searching for something here in the human world as well."

Hiei's eyes flickered between Minoru and the loud bugs, "What would that be?"

"My, we aren't just about to tell you. However, the only thing that stands in our way is your team. But we've become lucky today, you being here and alone at the same time. We'll be able to get rid of you and take your energy while we're at it, although you're not a woman."

Hiei's eyes widened. _They were only targeting females?_

Aya peeked through slit eyes, "Let's make this quick and painless okay?" she meowed sweetly. Itsuki shifted awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.

"Hn. Don't go getting a big head as to think you can possible beat me." Hiei said.

Minoru sighed, "Very well then. I'll take you on. Tatsuya," he looked a the quiet human, "You know what to do. I won't be long."

Hiei bared his fangs angrily, feeling enraged by his mocking. _I'll make him _eat_ those words._

"Right." Tatsuya nodded and leapt- he vanished.

"Oh phooey. I wanted to fight too." Aya whined, but vanished with Itsuki and the rest right afterwords. There was only Minoru, Hiei, and the looming cloud of ES.

"My insects will be feasting tonight," smiled Minoru and he waved forward. The bugs suddenly charged at an alarming speed. Skillfully, Hiei sliced and burned, cutting with speed and he jumped back. But the by the time he re-steadied himself, the ones he'd sliced and only knicked were recovering- and multiplying.

Minoru shook his head in sympathy, "Tsk, I thought you knew that whenever you cut them, they just multiply."

Hiei growled in aggravation as the second wave attacked.

~.~.~.~.~.

I heaved a tired sigh. I'd had to stay after school today becaues a teacher had caught me before I could leave the grounds and had asked for help of organizing papaers and I would have felt bad later if I said no. So I was stuck there for the rest of the afternoon. I touched the ribbon in my hair, a habit of mine, and groaned.

"Jeez, that was a pain. But that was a surprisingly interesting day. First with that new student, Hiei, and then that girl suddenly collapsing and being shipped off to the hospital. I'm glad she turned out ok, but that guy was a serious jerk. Just thinking about earlier makes me annoyed, even after I went through the trouble of looking for him to return his things and everything." I thought out loud to myself.

"But enought about him, he's not worth dwelling over anyways and it's Friday, so that means I can sleep in tomorrow. But now, I've to hurry home so I'll make it to work on time."

I was by the park now, enjoying the quiet night. But then for some reason I felt a quesiness in my stomach and I froze, the hairs on the back of my neck prickling like crazy. I couldn't move. Some just wasn't _right._

The atmosphere felt dangerous.

Everything seemed to errupt around me. I screamed as a tree went crashing down right in front of me. A man jumped off of it, landing gracefully a few feet away. I was in utter shock but despite my trembling legs, I managed to stay standing and looked at the person as he noticed me. I instantly saw red eyes. Whatever I had been thinking about before was obliterated from my mind.

"...Hiei?"

Hiei took a moment to process me being there and his eyes widened slightly, before a swarm of purple bugs and a man with long purple hair jumped out.

"Where are you going Hiei? We just started getting to know each other!"

Hiei cursed, but I remained petrified to the spot.

The next thing I knew, Hiei was lunging for me and I was able to register an arm wrapping around my waist, the wind knocking from me, and I was filled with a terrible weightlessness, my stomach dropping.

If I was screaming before, I ws going ballistic now. We were sailing through the air, as if we were flying. I was blinded by tears due to the wind tearing at my face and I couldn't breathe. I clutched deperately to whatever I was holding on to, keeping me from not letting gravity make me drop like a rock. I looked up with effort and saw Hiei's face.

Something clicked in my mind and my arms and legs became beings of their own, lashing out. Over the whistle of the wind, I could hear Hiei grunt as I managed to dig a nail into his cheek. I was squeezed harshly and was forced to release the nail, leaing a small but deep cut, blood dribbling down.

"Stop moving unless you want to get killed!"

His tone and expression was beyond angry and I became a limp doll in his arms, giving up resistence. I didn't want to die.

We crashed down on a roof and then were hopping from top to top until we finally landed between two buildings. Only then did he drop me. I rolled on the ground, gasping for breath on all fours, trembling violently. I could barely get to my feet, I was scared one of my legs would spasm out from under me.

I opened my mouth to say something, but it only hinged like a broken door. I couldn't decide what to say first, what to think. My thoughts were racing miles in seconds, much like my heart, and they wouldn't slow down.

Hiei grabbed my back collar and tossed me into a near trash bin like an old rag. For a moment, the smell almost made me sick, but it didn't even matter anymore because Hiei's eyes were much more powerful and hypnotizing. My mind went blank, as if something had suddenly wiped it clean.

"Do _not_ leave this spot or you _will_ die painfully." and he slammed the lid over my head so hard that I was was seeing white spots. After they faded, leaving a terrible pain in my head, I noticed a small crack between the inside of the bin and the lid and was almost to scared to breathe properly. I peeked out, and almost screamed again. I bit my tongue to choke it back down.

The other man was already there, the pack of bugs looming behind him. He stood facing Hiei, blocking any means of escape. They were standing little ways from eachother and I could only pray that my beating heart couldn't be heard round the world. The man stepped forward, flicking his hair back and my breath hitched.

"Well Hiei, where did your little friend go? I know I saw you take a girl..." and he swerved his head around and for a second his eyes landed on the bin. My blood ran cold.

He knew where I was.

I really had no clue what was going on, but all I knew was that I was in grave danger. But there was no way I could move from this spot- I was helpless. It seemed like Hiei was trying to protect me- I think. I shivered as a cold smile stretched across the man's face.

"I'll take care of her later I suppose. Right now, I'd like to finish what I started. Now go," the swarm charged. Hiei was defenseless!

Hiei leapt into the air and managed to avoid them, but I could see that a _second_group was already swooping down on top of him. He went crashing to the ground.

"Hiei!" I clamped my hand over my mouth.

Color quickly left his face and the bugs on his back pulsed like leeches. I wanted to throw up. It was as if they were sucking the life out of him.

As the feasting continued, Hiei seemed only to become weaker and weaker and I tears trickled down my face. I had to do something! But I was to afraid. There was nothing I could possibly do.

The man slowly approached him. He bent down to his face and lifted his head by his hair cruelly.

"Hiei you could have just made this easy, but you chose to talk big and look at where you are now- forced to eat them all up. But before I finsih you, I'd like to draw your life out a little longer."

He waved away the bugs and pulled out a dagger that made my heart practically stop. Hiei looked like he wanted to tear the man apart and tried to struggle, but it was futile. With his foot, the man kicked Hiei onto his back. He rested the tip of the dagger on Hiei's heart and smiled again.

I wanted to shut my eyes to the horror that was unfolding before me. At the last moment, I squeezed them shut and the night was filled with squelshing and a deep cry of agony that made me feel like _I_ was being the one stabbed.

Minoru slowly withdrew the knife, now glistenning scarlet, but not before twisting it cruelly into Hiei's chest once more.

"I missed your heart on purpose as to allow you to live a bit longer. You have no strength to heal and I imagine my team has already found yours so I'll enjoy watching you bleed to death."

Then suddenly his eyes flashed and he tensed, sighing, "Damn...you'll have to forgive me. It seems like our Lady is calling us back already. It doesn't matter, you'll die all the same. Farewell." and without turning back, he disappeared into the night, the swarm with him, leaving Hiei for death.

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei was bleeding all over the ground and my stomach felt like it was on roller coaster. I scrambled out of my hiding place, landing awkwardly on my side and I crawled over to Hiei.

"Hiei!" I bent over him and glanced at his chest, only to look right back away, feeling the sick rising up my throat. It was really bad.

Yet, I forced myself to look up at his face. It was creamy pale and his eyes flickered in and out of consciousness. He must have been in serious pain. The little cut I'd inflicted on his cheek stood out bright red against his white skin.

I shook my head rapidly, "What am I doing? Hiei needs help and I'm just sitting here like an idiot!"

Now what to do... I didn't reallly have anything that could immediately stop the bleeding so I busied myself with ripping off his black coat and stripping it as fast as possible into long pieces. I silently apologized to him while doing it and hoped he wouldn't be mad later. If there was even going to be a later for him to be mad.

I was scared out of my mind to even try moving him, but I knew I had no choice if he was going to survive. Plus, I had no idea if the demon, or whatever that man was, was going to come back for us again.

I tried as best as I could to wrap the strips around his torso, and although the bleeding seemed to slow, it didn't stop. When I attempted to lift him up, I gasped when his eyes fluttered open. They weren't annoyed or passive, but burned with an anger that shocked me, especially with his current state.

"What do you think you're doing?" he muttered quietly, and I saw him flinch in pain. My hands shook as I tied the strips in knots.

"Please be quiet, I need to finish this and you need to save your strength. I need to at least stop the bleeding so I get you to a hospital _alive._"

What was probably meant as a snort came out as a groan of pain. Even though barely conscious, I could read the message clearly.

"I never asked for you damn help, human. And I swear I will kill you if you even dare take me to one of your disgusting 'hospitals'." and then he slumped, as if he'd lost the energy to even talk and his eyes began to slip closed again.

"No don't fall asleep Hiei!" I was in a war with myself. Why had he just said human as if he weren't one himself? Then again, the things I'd just seen didn't seem very human at all. And I didn't doubt that he might actually _kill_ me if I took him to a hospital. But where could I go?

"Where should I take you then Hiei?" But he didn't answer and I couldn't really expect him to. I could see the eyes rolling to the back of his head- I had to make a decision _now._ Gently handling him onto my shoulders, I dragged myself slowly to the mouth of the alley. I poked my head around the corner- the streets were empty, the shop lights were off except for street lights lining the road. My stomach churned nervously. And then I spotted a small, general store and slight relief flooded through me. I recognized this place. Sometimes I would come here for the good sales and lack of crowds. My apartment was the closest place I could take Hiei to. The hospital was practically on the other side of town anyways, so that was ruled out.

I pulled Hiei's arm over my shoulder and I shuddered. He looked like death, but I could see that he was still breathing.

"Please hold on Hiei. We'll be there in ten minutes!." I whispered to him although I doubt he could hear me. I couldn't be more grateful for the deserted area; it would have looked awfully suspicious . A girl covered in dirt and blood, dragging someone who was out cold with a hole in his chest. I quickned my pace, my shoulders beginning to hurt under his weight.

When I finally saw the peack of the apartment building, I was panting. My face twisted once I realized I'd have to get Hiei up the stairs. I'd have to do my best not to hurt him.

I pulled him over to them and slowly made my way up. I almost dropped him twice and it took a long time, especially with his increasing dead weight, but I finally made it to the top. I pulled him all the way towards the end and gently rested him on the wall, where he groaned slightly. _He's still alive._

I reached for my keys and dread pooled through me. My bag was missing- I must have dropped it when Hiei first grabbed me!

I pressed the bell several times, even though I knew no one was supposed to be home.

In desperation, I grabbed the handle and putting all my might into my arms, twsited it and pushed. It glided open and I went crashing down, sending a shock of pain into my arms and I tried to support my fall with them. Tears dotted my eyes, and I achingly picked myself up and made to grab Hiei, my focus reset entirely on him rather then the fact the door had been open the entire time. I dragged him in and made a stumbled towards my room.

Reaching it, I managed to push Hiei onto my bed, careful not to touch his chest to much. His bandages were loose and bloody- I'd have to replace them.

I didn't have a moment to think. I ran to the kitchen, filling a tub with cold water and ice, rags and all the ointments and medicines I could find.

I fretted back to his side. First, I took one of the rags and dipped it into the freezing water. I wiped his face and folded it, pressing it down softly over his forehead. He was burning up! I had to get the fever down.

I undid his bandages and tossed them to the floor. The puncture was right over his heart, only slightly to the side. The man hadn't lied. He missed on purpose, but just barely.

The bleeding had actually stopped, but dried blood caked around the wound so I grabbed another cold rag to clean it. It seemed to be turning yellow: signs of it already getting infected.

I grabbed the alcohol and swabbed over it, trying to ignore the whimpers and hisses beind drawn from Hiei's twisted expression, although still unconcsious.

Drawing away, I dried it off re-wrapped him in white gauze. _At least now I know he won't bleed to death._

Inspecting him, I noticed the small cute again and pressed a band-aid on it after cleaning it. I cupped his face- it was still hot.

_Must be the infection._ I replaced the drying compress with a fresh one and Hiei shivered. I felt utterly helpless.

"All I have is this medicine." it was a liquid medicine meant for lowering fevers, but what could it do? And how would I be able to give it to him? He wouldn't be able to swallow it unconscious.

I pulled Hiei into a sitting position and my heart panged at the look on his face- it was so vulnerable.

Earlier that day, I'd been at school wehre I'd met him for the first time for barely a few minutes. How could I have possible known that I'd be facing him, in _this type of situation?_

Hiei had saved her, protected and even hid her, only to...die himself? Was I really going to leave it up to fate? I clenched my fist.

_No. I haven't done everything I could do yet._ I was looking at his face when I got the idea. My face flushed and for the first time I was super thankful that he wasn't awake. If he ever found out what I was about to do... I didn't want to think about it.

I took a deep breath, pouring the medicine onto a spoon.

_Right now, I promise myself that I will never mention this ever again to anyone. _I spooned the medicine into my mouth, but didn't swallow.

I leaned over Hiei and pinched his nose.

_Why me? Ok Ren, pull it together! I'm not going to kiss him, I'm just trying to help! _ I tilted his head back and his mouth parted slightly. It was now or never.

_Come back to me Hiei._ I closed my eyes, to embarassed to keep them open and my lips touched his. A strange sensation came over me and my hear pounded. The desire to save Hiei welled up in my ike a fire and my entire body tingled. The heat was spreading like liquid fire through my veins, but it didn't hurt. It rose into my fingers, my neck, my ears, and when it reached my lips, it was like something was slipping out of me, passing onto Hiei, as the medicing passed from me to him.

I pulled away quickly and the sensation dissolved away. Except, my ears were still hot. After making sure he'd swallowed it all, I fled the room, feeling wobbly. Stumbling over to the bathroom, I leaned heavily against the sink.

_That was the strangest feeling..._ I touched my lips absentmindedly. _And I got so tired..._ I splashed my face with water and looked up to my reflection. A stranger stared back at me, moust brown hair in a mess although tied up, blue eyes swollen and sagging, pale. I sighed- I was such a wreck.

What was I thinking? Who else did I know took somewhat strangers home, put them in bed, and treat them for nearly fatal wounds? No one, obviously. Except me.

I massaged my temples and shakily made my way back to Hiei. He was still asleep but he seemed... different. He was breathing easier and color had returned to his cheeks. I smiled tiredly, relief flooding throughout me.

"He looks liks such a kid." I touched his forehead- he still had a fever, but it was significantly cooler.

_Wow, that medicine really must have worked. I'm so glad his fever went down so much. _I slumped by the side of the bed, finally allowing myself to relax, feeling sleep stroking my body. My eyes drooped and folding my arms on the bed, I rested my head and faded into deep sleep.

[End]

Thank you for reading chapter 2 of Our Days Together! :D

Please review, they seriously mean so much to me! They're honestly one of the main things that inspire me to continue this story!

Thank you for all my previous reviews and favorites/alerts too, you're all so great and wonderful!

Now I'm going to go and watch Tangled as a good self pat on the back :{D

Till next time then ;)

-Love InuChimera7410


	3. Quit Calling Me Human, Human!

Chapter 3 Quit Calling Me Human, Human!

Even the soft morning light that filtered through the window hurt Hiei's eyes. He felt groggy and his thoughts were slow and sludgy, like molasses. There was a deep ache in his chest and when tried to open his mouth, he grimaced: it was like he'd swallowed several cotton balls.

He should've been up and alert at this point, but something felt _different _and strange; almost wrong and somehow.

He looked around with difficulty. He was in a room he didn't recognize. A small side table littered with medical treatments like gauze and ointments rested next to where his head was poised. Hiei struggled to sit up and was startled when a damp cloth tumbled from his forehead. Only then did he also notice, the clean bandages wrapped around his torso.

_What's going on…?_ And then he was suddenly aware of a weight of his legs. He froze.

A sleeping girl was cradling her head in her arms, her face turned towards him. And not just a girl… not, it was _that_ girl.

The events from last night broke free of his haze and flooded his mind in a rush. Through the chaos, he realized that the last thing he remembered was seeing her face hovering over him…

She mumbled and shifted slightly, yawning. Hiei stayed still, trying to absorb his shock as he stared at the girl. Slowly, she blinked and raised herself up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She turned to look at him, and it looked as if she were looking at as if from behind opaque lens. It was quiet for a few moments while the fog gradually disappeared from her eyes.

And then she screamed.

~.~.~.~.~.

"Kami! You scared the living daylights out of me. I was about to have a heart attack. Hiei!" I moved to his side, feeling guilty for the pained look on his face. I'd screamed quite loudly in surprise.

"Are you alright? You shouldn't get up to fast; you might re-open your wound." I'd watched enough television to practice simple medical procedure, and I moved to touch his forehead; he was still slightly feverish. I gasped lightly when Hiei flinched and swatted my hand away.

"What did you do to me?" Hiei demanded, growling low and animal like.

I blinked. _What did I do to him?_

"What-what do you mean?"

He hissed and I backed up slightly, "Don't play with me! There's something wrong with me," and his face twisted as if he were in pain, and he buried his face into his hand groaning. I reached out cautiously, wanting to do something but not knowing what.

"Hiei, you have to take it easy. You still have a fever and you have a huge hole in your chest for Kami's sake!"

He only glared harder, "Like I said, I never asked for your damn help girl! I'd rather have died then receive a sniveling human's help."

His words left me stunned cold. He couldn't possibly be serious. But the way he was looking at me made me think otherwise very quickly.

I clenched my fist. The _nerve._ I just save his _life!_ My voice first came out as a whisper, but its volume began to grow all on its own as if I couldn't control it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I had no idea that you wanted to die so badly. Next time, I'll make sure you rot! By all means, it would've saved me _a lot _of trouble!"

Hiei only snorted and that made my blood boil.

"You _ungrateful_…" I choked on my rage as I grasped for words, "_brainless…s-senile…_jerk!"

He smirked at me, "Is that you trying to insult me? That was piteous."

Shaking, I thrust myself into his face, "You have no idea what I went through last night apart from almost getting myself murdered by some sort of demon-human-person, which I might add shouldn't exist! And then even without him, I almost died from the fright half the other time: flying in the air, the swarm of bugs, and you… you were bleeding so much, and…" all of my anger suddenly evaporated and I lost the energy to sit up. I slumped tiredly against the bed. I felt like I could collapse over again.

"You were actually going to die and…just, don't," I took a deep breath, "don't say you would've rather died again. Please,"

When I glanced at Hiei, he looked slightly stunned and even at a loss for words. Maybe it was because no one had ever talked to him like that before; he seemed like the kind of person that got what he wanted because he knew he was intimidating.

And then when he seemed to be finished recovering and he began to raise himself up, aggravation oozing from his being, he cringed and sunk back down, clutching his heart. He broke into a cold sweat as I could see the bandages being quickly soaked in red.

"Hiei, you need to calm down! Sorry, this is my fault…All of this sudden fighting made your re-open your wound; it had barely closed. Lay still and I'll clean it up again."

I retrieved the necessary supplies and despite Hiei's weak but frustrated protests, I stripped him of the soiled gauze. The gash was bleeding freely and Hiei hissed when I brushed my fingers against it.

"Sorry," I murmured absently as I swabbed it and tried to look at his face for some kind of reassurance, but he'd turned away and was staring stubbornly out the window. I rewrapped him and sat back quietly, looking at his still turned face. I took a deep breath.

"Look Hiei," hoping that he was listening, I continued, "I'm sorry. I really am. I'm really glad you're ok. And even though you don't like me so much, you did save me from that man. So, this is me thanking you properly."

I lowered myself to my knees and bowed to him, my eyes squeezed tightly, "Thank you for saving me."

He snorted, a small stab to my pride, but didn't say anything. I went on a bit nervously, raising myself on my knees.

"May I suggest a truce? Can we start over?"

Hiei's eyes turned to stab into mine and I flushed under the pressure of his complex gaze. The atmosphere was heavy and silent. I hadn't realized I'd been holding my breath until I felt my lungs begin to strain.

"Hn."

Was that a yes? I could only hope…

"Well, I'm Ren Hashi, anyways. It's nice to meet you, officially." I presented a small smile and picked myself up.

"Do you feel like you're up to eating anything? It might help in recovering your strength." I asked.

"Hn."

Was I getting the silent treatment now?

"Fine then, I'll just bring you something simple and you can choose to eat if you'd like," I left the room without another word.

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei watched Ren leave the room, annoyed. What an insolent girl. No human, other than the detective and Kuwabara, had ever dared speaking down to him that way. As if she thought she could possibly be on the same status as him. He fingered the fresh bandages, feeling the wound ache.

Why was he feeling so weak? What had the girl done to him to make him feel so drained? He suddenly caught sight of a small purple object lying among the medical supplies. Purple. Hiei's eyes widened. Minoru and the ES.

They must've drained most of his energy. He should have been recovering his energy. Then why couldn't he tune into any of his powers, let alone stay sitting up? Typically he had an extremely high pain tolerance, physical and mental wise, and an injury like this should've been nothing less than a scratch. But every time he shifted it would paralyze him with pain. He couldn't even get out of the blasted bed. Was he to be stuck here until he healed? The thought weighed heavily on him.

He felt so helpless and vulnerable, two things that he'd never been forced to feel. It pissed him off.

~.~.~.~.~.

"That god damn cat!" yelled Yusuke, nursing the scratches on his face, "Where did they go?"

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Botan had been out all night looking for the new threat Koenma had alerted them to and when they'd finally found them, there'd only been three: two humans, and a cat demon wrapped around the older looking one's shoulders. After insulting banter, particularly directed at Yusuke and Kuwabara, they'd easily escaped after the cat had playfully pounced on Yusuke's face.

They'd been looking for them ever since. And Hiei had never shown up.

"Kurama can't you sense any of them?" Kuwabara asked huffily.

Kurama shook his head, "Unfortunately no. Much like Hiei, at least of the seven must be able to manipulate the flow of their energies."

"Then how the heck are we supposed to find them?" Yusuke barked, "And what about Hiei? We haven't seen him since yesterday."

Kurama looked concerned, "I'm not sure, to either of your questions. Perhaps we should try locating Hiei first. Maybe he'll be able to track the energies."

"Oh yeah that's a good idea, but, now, how do we find _him?_"

"Hm... I know!" Botan exclaimed, "I've just thought of the perfect tool to find him!" Beaming, she rummaged through her pockets and triumphantly pulled out a small silver whistle.

Kurama immediately made a sour face and Kuwabara looked at it with recognition, "Oh yeah, good thinking Botan."

Yusuke scratched his head, "How the hell will a measly whistle find Hiei?"

"Ah that's right. You've never seen the whistle Yusuke. After all, we used it to find Hiei that one time a while ago when you were kidnapped. I present the Spirit Whistle, version 2!"

She paused a moment, posing in victory, her arm above her head.

"When I blow on it, the whistle will send out a wave of sound and the higher your spirit energy, the more horrible the sound will be. So if you will stand back and cover your ears tight."

She took a breath, the whistle at her lips, as Kurama hastily stepped forward.

"Wait, Botan-" And then he was clutching his ears; it was like a hundred needles stabbing his brain all at once. Yusuke looked like he wanted to just writhe in agony, but Kuwabara seemed relatively unaffected.

It was over soon enough, and the silent air was like sweet music to Yusuke and Kurama's ears.

"Damn it! What the hell Botan? I felt like my ears were going to fall off!" Yusuke yelled, but Botan just rolled her eyes.

"Oh hush, and sorry Kurama, were you trying to say something before?" she inquired.

Kurama sighed, "I was going to say that that probably wasn't a good idea. The other demons are most likely nearby, so they'll probably all come now."

Botan gaped, the whistle tumbling from her fingers. She hadn't thought of that at all. She whipped around and grabbed Yusuke's collar, shaking him fiercely. She shouted in his face.

"Yusuke you idiot! Why didn't you stop me? This is all...your...fault!" She annunciated each word, where she would shake him particularly hard.

"What? No way! You know I'm not smart enough to think of something like that. I didn't even know how the thing worked! How is this my fault?" Yusuke shouted back, "and what about you? You could have used the whistle when we were actually looking for the demons! Who's the idiot now?"

Flushing, she crossed her arms and looked away, " I just forgot, that's all."

"You just_ forgot_ about it? Jeez Botan I can't-"

"My, this is a surprise."

They all stopped and whipped around. Minoru's lilac hair flowed in the slight breeze and he looked down on them from the perch in the tree above them. He leapt down gracefully.

"I never expected that wretched sound to be you of all things. It's been a long time Botan."

"Huh?" the three boys spun to look at Botan. She'd gone absolutely white in the face and her hands were shaking. She unconsciously seemed to step closer.

In a broken voice, she whispered, "Minoru?"

"You two know each other?" Yusuke asked.

Looking as if she were about to faint, Botan nodded, "He was the grim reaper before me. And he's also…" her voice faded and she looked like she was about to cry, "It's been 20 years…"

"You're the same as I remember Botan." He chuckled softly, "Now, I hear you're looking for that small fire demon, Hiei. You don't have to worry your pretty heads anymore," He reached into his robe and withdrew a dust red knife, "Here take a look."

He tossed the knife which Kurama easily caught. His eyes widened. The red dust was blood. And it was Hiei's.

Botan trembled, "What have you done with Hiei?"

Minoru grinned, "The last I saw of him, he was enjoying the last few moments of his wretched life. I think I did him a favor: from what we'd dug up on him, I'm surprised he hadn't died long before. He was past due."

Yusuke ripped the blade from Kurama's hands and flung it. It skidded across the ground, the powdery blood mixing with the dirt. Yusuke looked at the others.

"I don't believe it. Hiei's tougher than that. It's not his style to be killed off so easily."

Botan bit her lip, but nodded weakly. Kuwabara grunted in agreement.

"Although he gets on my freaking nerves all of the time, he's our friend, and I believe that he wouldn't let someone with the likes of you to finish him."

"Well, believe what you'd like. But now I must bid you adieu. I hope we'll see each other again soon Botan."

She gasped loudly. In one leap, he'd managed to step in front of her and smiled coolly, taking the whistle.

"I'll be taking this."

"No, wait Minoru!" Botan cried, but it was too late; he'd already vanished. Yusuke rushed over to her.

"Botan, are you ok? How do you know that guy?" After checking that Minoru hadn't done anything to her, he grabbed her shoulders and was shocked to see the tears running down her cheeks.

"He's... my brother."

~.~.~.~.~.

Minoru walked down the dark halls. Turning every once in a while, he eventually reached an enormous double door entrance. Rapping on it with several taps, he stepped back. The room was filled with the sound of popping and clicking, hidden gears whirring. With a groan, the wooden doors pried themselves open slowly. Grinning, he strode into the room.

Way ahead laid a regal throne carved from black marble, intricate patterns littering the sides. A woman rested on it, gently swishing a goblet in her hand. A very beautiful woman.

Minoru approached her, kneeling to the floor.

"My Lady Asami," he murmured. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. Asami stood, setting the cup down, and seemed to glide as she approached him. Minoru gently took her outstretched hand and the skimmed the sensitive skin with his lips. She giggled.

"Minoru, charming as usual." Her voice was low and bewitching.

"Always, My Lady." He smiled at her.

She smoothly turned back to her throne, and once settled, she addressed him seriously.

"Your mission?"

He stood back up and snapped. Raising his hand, an ES began to form in a blue light. Pinching its wings, he traced a finger up the bug's tail to its head and it came apart like ashes, leaving a glowing red orb that fizzed and crackled with power. He held it out to Asami.

"I was able to salvage Hiei's, the fire demon, demonic energy before I left him for dead. I haven't begun on the others." The orb drifted towards Asami until it was cupped in her hands where it was absorbed into her pale skin.

"Excellent. And Minoru?"

He bowed, "Yes?"

"How goes the search for my daughter?"

"We've already been able to find a few, although they were discovered to be negative once we'd claimed all their energy. We're still looking. And if I may add, those annoying subordinates of Koenma have been making it difficult. They've been able to snag a lot of our intended targets."

"Then you should make do with fixing that problem. Otherwise, very well. You're dismissed."

He bowed once more and walked out, leaving Asami in solitude once more. After a moment, she grabbed her goblet once again and stared thoughtfully into the clear liquid in it. She tipped it over and spilled its contents on the cold floor where it formed a mirror like surface. An image appeared as she looked into it, although it wasn't her own reflection.

It was a girl with black hair and blue eyes. In the picture, she looked very happy. Calmly, Asami positioned a hand above it. The glass cracked under an invisible pressure, splitting the girl's smile into smile into something crooked. Asami clenched her hand.

The glass erupted into thousands of shards and as they shimmered in the air, it seemed as if they were only a thousand shining tears.

~.~.~.~.~.

I yawned and tried to massage my tense shoulders. It was already noon and all Hiei had done was sleep, barely eat, and ignore me. I'd walked in on him a couple of times where I'd catch him holding out his arm, hand open, or looking concentrated. At those times he wouldn't notice me right away and I could tell he was very frustrated. He broke out in a sweat at one point.

He also wasn't going anywhere for a while. Every time he'd try to get up, he'd go back down. Last I checked, he'd fallen asleep again so I was about to go out for a quick grocery trip; after I'd tried to feed him, I'd noticed that I didn't have much of anything else.

The market was crowded today. I had to shove and work my way in through the crowds to even get anywhere.

"I'm never going to find anything." I muttered to myself hopelessly. I felt a person's hand grab my shoulder. My entire body went rigid and I began trying to desperately get away. Everything had gone blank except for the fact that my mind was screaming at me: danger!

"Whoa, whoa! Sorry, I thought you were someone else!"

My mind instantly stopped screaming and I blinked at the stranger who'd instantly let go of me. He had a sheepish look on his face and was looking at me as if I had horns growing out of my head. Stammering and blushing, I fled to disappear further into the crowd.

Ok, so maybe I'd been a bit paranoid about leaving the house. But just a bit. I couldn't help it that I was only slightly terrified of the fact that the man who'd attacked Hiei and I last night could be anywhere. But it comforted me that I was in a very public place. It probably lowered the chances of anything happening. Hopefully.

"Damn it, where is he? I can't even lock on to Hiei's damn energy signal!" Amidst the entire crowd, I caught that one word that I felt rang above them all: _Did someone just say Hiei…?_

"Calm yourself Yusuke. I don't think Hiei's here either- but I can pick up the faintest scent. "

I hadn't imagined it. Someone was talking about Hiei! Maybe someone who knew him…? The voices sounded a bit away and I gravitated towards them.

"Well I don't think that will help much with all these people." Groaned a female voice.

"Hey guys! Here, I got us some snacks! So- gah, watch out!"

A tall man in a blue uniform suddenly stumbled from behind me and I only had time to look at him with wide eyes before we collided.

"Kya!" I went sprawling to the floor, groaning. The market bags I'd been holding were torn from my hand and their contents went sprawling in all different directions.

"Ow…" I groaned, looking at the chaos around me with stress.

"Oh jeez! I'm so sorry miss. I wasn't watching where I was going."

I looked up to see the guy, about my age I think, had a stretched out hand for me. He had kind eyes and his voice was filled with sincerity. Sighing, but smiling a little, I allowed him to help me up.

"No, it's ok." I bent down to start collecting my stuff.

"Oh here let me help." The guy began helping me and within a minute we'd bagged everything back except for the unfortunate carton of eggs that'd splattered on the floor.

"Thank you for your help, and please, don't worry about the eggs. I can always get some more." I smiled at the guy. Blushing, he scratched his orange head, and held out my bag.

"It was no big deal, and it was the least I could do."

"Hey Kuwabara, are you alright?" I had been about to take my bag when we heard the voice. It was one of the voices from the conversation I'd been tuned in to moments before.

A group of three stumbled into view. There was two boys, one tall with long red hair and the other, shorter, with greased black hair. There was also a pretty girl with… blue hair and pink eyes? I suddenly felt cold.

"Sorry for the holdup guys, I'm fine. Sorry for running into you again."

I tried to wave him off quickly. I needed to get out of there, "No, like I said, it's fine."

I tried to make a move to leave, but I began to freak when the red head blocked my way.

"Excuse me, but may we talk somewhere?" he said, his eyes staring coldly at me.

"What? What are you talking about Kurama?" asked the black haired boy.

"Yusuke, it's _her._ Hiei's scent is all over her."

"What!"

My beating heart was starting to hurt. I needed to _get away _from these people.

Yusuke took a menacing step forward, "Where is he?"

"W-what? I don't know-" I stuttered.

"Don't play dumb with us, demon!" he yelled and lunged for me, grabbing my arm. I shrieked.

"No, let me go! Stay away!" With my other hand, I pulled a small can from my pocket, and, without hesitation, aimed at his eyes. Kuwabara began to stutter.

"Look out Urameshi, that's a-"

I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence and pressed the nozzle. The pepper spray worked well. Yusuke began yelling and grabbing at his eyes, and I didn't waste a second. I turned and sprinted, pushing people out of my way, the groceries forgotten.

"That bitch! That really hurt!" I heard behind me.

"Enough complaining Yusuke! We need to follow her before we lose her!"

They were pursuing me now? Those people must also be after Hiei too! I had to get home and warn him quickly! The market disappeared behind me and I was running when the voices were suddenly behind me.

"Hey you, stop!"

How had they already caught up to me? And then the unimaginable happened. I dared looking over my shoulder and I felt my foot drop into a small depression in the ground. I was able to cushion my fall, but there was suddenly a throbbing pain in my foot. I couldn't run anymore.

As they ran up to my side, I did the only thing I could and pulled out the pepper spray again, brandishing it like a weapon. If one of them tried to come near me…

Yusuke's eyes were red, puffy and swollen. And he looked pissed.

"How about you give me that can and I'll show you how it feels!"

"What do you want from me? Come closer and I'll spray you again!" I yelled, just as Yusuke lunged. I sprayed him again and watched as he fell backwards and began rolling.

"Wow Yusuke, how did you fall for that one twice?" the girl said skeptically.

"Shut up Botan!"

"Now," I felt the tears in my eyes as Kurama was suddenly in my face, confiscating the can easily. His green eyes drilled into mine.

"Tell us what you've done to Hiei."

~.~.~.~.~.  
>Hiei put down the bowl, feeling a little better. It wasn't that he didn't want to eat, but he wasn't going to eat in front of Ren. He preferred not to eat in front of other people. At least, he thought sourly, it didn't taste awful.<p>

The house was absolutely silent and Hiei welcomed it. He held out his arm in front of him, once again, and concentrated. He gritted his teeth in effort. But nothing happened.

"Damn. What's going on?" he couldn't produce anything at all; he couldn't sense or open his jagan eye either.

"This is not good. And I've already been here for a full day." He still couldn't move, for his wound would strain and twinge in protest.

"Wait a minute!"

Hiei twitched- that was Ren's voice.

"Put me down Yusuke! I don't want you carrying me!"

_Yusuke?_ Despite the pain, Hiei was able to stand and stumble to the door, oblivious to the blooming red flower on his chest. There was jiggling at the front door and then-

"Hiei!"

~.~.~.~.~

I stopped squirming in Yusuke's grip and saw Hiei perched at the door to my room, looking as white as a ghost. Pushing Yusuke away, I limped towards Hiei as fast as I could.

"Hiei!" I repeated, "I told you not to get up! Your wound opened _again_." I shifted Hiei onto my shoulder and he gritted his teeth.

Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded.

Botan's eyes were shining, "I knew you were ok! We were all so worried!"

"We knew that stupid demon couldn't get you!" laughed Yusuke.

"At least act like you're happy to see us." Kuwabara insisted.

"But I'm not." Muttered Hiei darkly.

Kurama walked in casually, but they could all see he was relieved as well," You gave us quite a scare Hiei. And guys, you're crushing Ren."

They all backed away and I could breathe again. When I regained my composure, I glared evilly at them all.

Yusuke put his hands out, "Whoa there! I already said sorry! How were we supposed to know that you were on our side? Plus, I think we're even with all that spraying and everything!"

"Yes, I got that," I hissed, "But I think we need to worry about Hiei's injury right now!"

Yusuke noticed the blooding soaking his chest, as Hiei grew heavier on my shoulders.

"Hiei! What happened?"

Botan pushed Yusuke out of the way and helped me move Hiei back onto the bed.

Kurama didn't spare a moment, "Maybe you should start from the beginning?"

~.~.~.~.~

_What have I gotten myself into?_

I still couldn't believe what was going on. I had Hiei sitting up while I cleaned his wound _again_ while the others watched me without a word. My hands shook with pressure.

"Um guys, can you please stop staring at me." I mumbled weakly.

Kurama cleared his throat, "We need to know what happened."

Hiei didn't look like he was going to say anything and I paled. So I was going to have to do the talking…Tying a clean knot, I readjusted myself to face them all.

"Well I don't know where to begin," I said honestly.

Botan scooted closer to me, "It's alright dear, you can tell us. Just start from the beginning-when you first ran into Hiei."

Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth. And everything spilled out, from meeting him at school to dragging him home, with everything in between. By the end, I was shaking once again.

"It was horrible. Hiei was bleeding everywhere and I was so sure he was going to die, and there was nothing I could do. Luckily, I was able to get his fever down and the cut to stop bleeding somehow."

From behind me I heard Hiei, "Hn."

"Enough of that cynical attitude Hiei. Swallow your pride for once and admit that you would have died without Ren's help." Kurama said.

"Hn."

"Kurama's right, Hiei. I mean, just look at you. Minoru seems to have taken a number on you. And by what Ren said explains why Minoru was so sure you were dead." Botan explained.

Hiei said, "You speak as though you know him."

Botan clenched her fists and the other three looked at her with sympathy.

"I do, actually. He was," she shook her head, "_is_ my brother."

Hiei's eyes widened in surprise. Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke had already heard the story. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but I listened intently. I was pretty sure Minoru was the name of the man that had attacked us.

"We both worked for Koenma, even back then. Minoru was previously the Grim Reaper and I was to become his co-partner. It made it all the more easier since we were related. It was about 20 years ago and I was still young in my adolescent days.

"We were very close, but then things changed. After one particular mission alone, Minoru came back and I distinctly remember him being unusually quiet and withdrawn. He didn't talk about it. After that, he started missing work. First it was a couple of days, but then it was weeks, and then just long periods of time. While he was gone, I acted as his substitute. And then he just stopped coming completely and I became the official Grim Reaper of the Spirit World. I haven't' seen him since, till yesterday…"

Botan looked on the brink of tears, but when she locked eyes with me, she froze. Everyone else started staring at me too. She began forcing laughter and shouting in high pitch.

"Haha! Honestly, I was just kidding! Grim Reapers and Spirit Worlds? There's no such thing!"

I looked down, and said quietly, "I'm not stupid… I know that whatever's going on isn't… normal."

Botan paused mid-laugh and looked down-right miserable.

"I'm sorry, this must be so sudden-"

"No, it's ok," I said hurriedly, "I- I think I'm ok. I mean, there was definitely something not," I gulped, "_human_ about Minoru and those bugs."

I glanced at Hiei, "You're…demon too?" It was really more of a statement then a question. I'd tried to push it out of my head so I wouldn't have to think about it, but I really knew.

Hiei smirked, and looked slightly amused, "Hn."

"Are you all demons?" I asked the rest of them.

Kuwabara raised his hand, "I'm not."

Yusuke shrugged, "Yes and no. It's kind of complicated."

Botan looked at me strangely, "Are you sure you're alright dear? You're unusually calm."

" I think I'm a _little _shocked." I said honestly.

We all settled into an uncomfortable silence.

There was a cough at the other end of the room and we all looked up.

I shrieked. A man was standing, his hand raised in greeting, sucking a _pacifier._ I grabbed the first thing I could reach, a platter I'd used to bring Hiei's food, and bared it like a weapon.

"Who the heck are you and how did you get into my apartment?" I demanded.

Botan made a grab for the platter, "It's alright- that's Koenma. He's in charge of the Spirit World."

I refused to give up the platter and eyed the block print 'Jr.' on Koenma's forehead, "Right… the spirit World." That would take some time to sink in.

Koenma said, "Well since you all already told her everything, I figured I might as well visit. And I heard about Hiei."

I didn't let my guard down as he approached me, but all he did was hold out his hand, "I'm Koenma, leader of the Spirit World. I'm very awesome."

Uncertainly, I shook his hand, "Um, right. I'm Ren Hashi."

"Oh I know who you are, but let's cut to the chase. I overheard pretty much everything. And I see Minoru's finally decided to show up again. It never would have occurred to me that he'd have something to do with this. But what I still want to know is about Hiei." He turned to Hiei who'd been sitting in solemn silence, his red eyes glimmering darkly.

Hiei scoffed, "If you want to know what he did to me, you can just forget it. I'm not so sure myself."

Kurama frowned, "Yes, but he _did_ do something. Hiei, I can't even sense your demonic presence and you're sitting a few feet in front of me. Please try to tell as much as you know."

Hiei grunted, "Hn. I'll try."

~.~.~.~.~.

"…and then I don't know what happened after that. Next thing I know, I'm in this hell hole."

I clenched my fist, my eye twitching. He couldn't even spare me a drop of gratitude.

"Well before we arrived at this _hell hole_," I said, annoyed, "Hiei was busy dying." I told my piece.

"He had a really high fever and I had trouble getting his wound to close. I knew I had to lower his fever and I didn't know what else to do, so I-" I halted.

They all gave me quizzical looks, but my mouth had suddenly gone dry. Several seconds passed.

"Er, what did you do dear?" Botan inquired, worried.

"I-I gave him some medicine to bring down the fever. After a while, it went down a lot." I started playing with my hands, avoiding eye contact- especially with Hiei.

"He's pretty much been in bed the whole day and then I left for the mark and that's when I ran into you guys and you started chasing me…" I trailed off, assuming they knew where the story picked up.

Kurama was thoughtful, "Liquid medicine? That was what brought down his fever?"

Trying my hardest to suppress a blush, I nodded, "Yes, just some over the counter stuff I use for colds."

"How strange. Hiei's demon metabolism would have just burned up human medicine, making it highly unlikely that it would be of any use. Perhaps, his body function was so runned down that it didn't function as normal."

"I don't really know."

Koenma looked slightly skeptical and said, "Kurama may I discuss some things with you?" and he and Kurama stepped out of the room to discuss.

As curious as I was, I couldn't hear them because the others were causing a ruckus.

Yusuke poked Hiei in the chest, making him growl in pain, "Yikes Hiei, that's a pretty nasty cut."

Kuwabara snickered, "What happened, Hiei? Bugs get the best of you?"

Hiei growled gutturally, "If I wasn't so weak right, I doubt you'd be laughing."

Botan sighed, "Now, now boys. We should all be happy that we know Hiei's safe." She turned to me then, smiling, "If I had been you, I'm not sure what I would've done alone. Very good thinking bringing him here rather than a hospital!"

I flushed but smiled sheepishly, "Well, I didn't have much of a choice. I was in the middle of a panic. Besides, he'd even told me not to take him to the hospital. Even on the brink of consciousness he was able to threaten me."

Botan looked horrified, but I actually laughed, "But don't worry, it all worked out right? Anyways, tell me about the Spirit World." My natural curiosity was taking over.

"Well, when a human dies, they become ghosts and wonder around in this realm for a while until the Grim Reaper –me- comes to get them and lead them to a heaven or hell, depending on what kind of life he or she had."

My mind was boggled, "What do you mean by realm? And you're not at all what I thought the Grim Reaper would look and be like."

She laughed, "Yes well, I don't know where people came up with the idea of bones anyways. But for example, this is the human world where the humans live and go about their lives; there are two other realms, or worlds, to our knowledge: Spirit World, where I work and bring the dead, and the Makai, or demon world where the demons live."

"I think we have an explanation about Hiei," Kurama announced. Koenma nodded beside him.

"Yes, obviously as we know, the ES took most of Hiei's energy which is why he became so weak. I find it hard to believe that any human medication could have cured him, so it must've been some other factor. But besides that, we're also baffled by the fact that we can't sense your demonic energy." Koenma said.

"Get on with it," Hiei said.

"So we think," Koenma hesitated.

Kurama picked up, "We've come to the conclusion that since enough of your demonic energy was stolen, based on the theory that Koenma has come up with, you won't be able to recover it over time. In other words, at the moment, you're practically human."

The words seemed to echo through the room. I could see Hiei's eyes widening and his mouth hung ajar, hinging open and close. I raised a hand to my mouth- was it that big of a shock? Kurama trudged on.

"From where we're at, I think the only way to recover your powers is to actually return the physical manifestation of your energy that they stole."

Unnerved by the thick silence, I suddenly said, "Is that such a bad thing? At least he's alive right?" Personally, I was a bit glad that Hiei officially lacked this 'demon' power of his and, of course, I wasn't about to tell them about my mouth-to-mouth method of healing, but I don't think that I had given him any demon-to-human disease or something.

Hiei was too deep in denial to say anything and Yusuke and Kuwabara were trying to snap him out of it. Botan looked shocked. But Kurama seemed to be the only one who'd heard me.

"Yes, you're right. We're not sure what you did, but whatever it was saved him. We owe you tremendous thanks."

Embarrassed, I blushed, waving my hands, "No, I was glad to help."

Koenma suddenly appeared next to me and I jumped. He peered into my face and I gulped, unable to turn away. Although he looked young, his eyes reflected a much older kind of intelligence.

"Ren," he said.

"Yes?" I answered nervously.

"I think I'll be needing you to do me a favor, and since you know about the Spirit World and all that good stuff-putting it bluntly- I'm giving you no choice but to accept this proposition or I'll have to erase your memory."

What kind of favor was that? I was about to say that out loud, but I swallowed them down. Although this was coming from a man who was sucking on a pacifier with the words 'Jr.' tattooed to his head, his statement pulsed with solid authority that I didn't want to defy.

"What kind of proposition?" I choked out.

What could the ruler of the Spirit World want _me_ to do? What if I couldn't even do it? Would he erase my memories regardless? I began to freak out inside.

"Don't worry; I believe it will be manageable. But I need you to so some babysitting for us for a while." His eyes began flicking to the side, where Hiei and the rest of them sat, but I was too absorbed in his request. It had completely caught me off guard. Babysitting? That didn't sound too bad.

"But I've never really babysat before." I protested reasonably.

"Oh, don't worry. For the most part, I don't think it'll be too hard. I'm not asking you to look after a child."

Confused I said, "Then who would I be looking after? And how long would be a while?"

Chuckling nervously, Koenma said, "I'm not sure, just a while in general. And the one you'll be looking after would be Hiei."

The entire room froze over.

The only one who moved was Kuwabara who came to touch my shoulder and frown, and said, "I'm sorry."

~.~.~.~.~.

Checking the clock again, I sighed and muttered to myself, "I wonder if I should be worried or angry…"

"I wonder how things will turn out." I thought back to yesterday.

After Koenma had proposed his 'favor,' I flat out refused. But then he'd dangled his threat above my head again and I had no choice. Plus, Hiei obviously wasn't very thrilled about the idea either. He'd practically sputtered on every other word while trying to put his two cents in. But when he finally made move to get up, his body language suggesting in all ways that he had the desire to hurt Koenma very badly, Kurama slipped a blue flower from his sleeve and blew a single petal at him. He'd gone droopy eyed, stumbled over his own feet, and didn't get up. I'd panicked but Kurama assured me that he'd only put Hiei in a relaxed hypnosis-like sleep.

Koenma got back to it and told me that they would try to recover his demon strength as fast as they could, but needed someplace for Hiei to recover and hide, a way of protecting him. It made sense, but I still didn't understand why it had to be _me._ I'd told him that maybe he should stay with one of the others.

"Nonsense," he said, "We don't know what the enemy could be thinking and I think it'd be best if we let them think Hiei was still dead, so we need to keep him out of the spot light as much as possible. I feel like I can trust you to take care of him while we handle this."

'Trust?' I had thought, 'He's only known me for a little more than 30 minutes!' But before she could bring up another valid protest they had all fled and abandoned me here with Hiei. So I was stuck with him for a 'while' now.

_Great, now I have some freaking_ demon _from Makai who takes orders from a man with a pacifier living under my roof. What'll I tell Mako when he get home? _I checked the clock again.

Grunting, I sat up and headed for the bathroom.

After they'd all left, of course that was the time for Kurama's flower spell to break and Hiei wake up. We'd been consumed in a thick silence until I offered to help him back to the bed where he snapped at me how he could do it himself.

Stung, I'd countered, and we began arguing. I can't even remember the entirety of it, but the next thing I knew, I was shoving Hiei into the bathroom, not thinking about his condition, because somewhere in our spat, his hygiene had somehow come into play. He hadn't been out since.

A thought struck me- what if he'd doubled over in pain or his cut re-opened and he was dying or he could've slipped and was drowning in the bathtub? My mind spun with all of the possibilities and I paused, my hand inches from the door knob. I shook my head.

Now was the not the time to hesitate! And I twisted the knob.

"Hiei! Are you ok-" but before I could fully get it open, the knob jiggled beneath my fingers and I came face to face with Hiei. He was shirtless so I could easily see the light scabbing of his wound, and he was wearing the pants he'd been wearing before, his spiky hair pulled down and dripping with water. Blushing, I looked away in politeness, and fidgeted.

Timidly, I said, "Um did everything go ok? You were in there for a long time and I got worried, and-"but he'd already limped past me, barely acknowledging me. Grimacing, I turned and reached out to grab his shoulder.

"Hey, did you hear me-" I began, but was cut off.

"I dare you to try and touch me." He cold words made me freeze. The way he was glaring at me pinned me to the spot. Hiei continued.

"I might have been forced to stay in this place for a while, but trust me, it was _only_ by force. Keep your distance because even though I may not have any power at the moment, I have enough strength to make it hurt. Stay out of my way." He continued on his way and disappeared into my room, looking like he was still in pain. I didn't move to help him that time.

I took a shaky breath. How was I going to handle this guy for a 'while'? There was no way. I didn't even know him! I didn't know any of them! Why was I doing this?

I touched the ribbon in my hair. 'Oh mom, it looks like I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight…. What have I gotten myself into?'

[End]

Yay! \(^.^)/ next chapter done! :D

Please review and alert so you'll know when the next chapter comes out! xD Thank you so much for all my previous reviews as well, I appreciate them so much! :D


	4. Dangerous Song

**Hey guys! Spending the last couple of days watching and getting obsessed with Naruto and then madly going in search for fanfiction filled with SasuNaru, NaruHina, ShikaTemari, and all that good stuff, I became in desperate need to keep writing about tsundere! XD I got a sudden spurt of motivation while reading some good ones, and I hope you guys like this chappy, most specifically dedicated to all my lovely reviewers and alerters! **

**stacikate16 : **I hope you enjoy this one! Thanks for reviewing! :3

**MyLifeInWhole: ** XD Of course, Hiei is master of grouchiness! :D

**Kshepps27: **^^ Ah, that was one of my favorite back stories to make up for this story, I can't wait to reveal it later :) Hope you stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH! T-T

**Chapter 4 Dangerous Song**

When I woke up the next morning, Hiei was missing.

Before I let myself run away with alarm, I made myself calm down. I checked all the rooms, the kitchen, the bathroom, the spare, even the closet as a last resort. Nothing.

I massaged my temples. Was this stress really worth my memory? After all, it would be just a measly two days that I'd forget. Of course, later -much later- I would realize how I could never imagine forgetting those first two days or any of the other days that would follow them. But it hadn't been much later yet.

Slumping back to my room, I noticed an unusual breeze and a flutter caught my eye. Confused, I realized that my window was open.

_Weird. I don't remember ever opening it. _I stopped at the edge in surprise. There'd always been a large tree that rested right next to the apartment complex, by my window. Looking under the green canopy, I could see Hiei, in all his glory, lounging on the branch with his eyes shut. His chest expanded and retracted slowly and his face was missing all of the lines and creases made when he would frown or look at me angrily.

_He's sleeping in a tree? Doesn't he know how dangerous that is?_ I leaned further out the window to try and get a better look at him.

_How does he manage to look so serene asleep, while when awake he's so unbearable? _I laughed a little, enjoying the morning breeze.

My stomach growled and I, reinvigorated with cheer, withdrew and headed for the kitchen. I was even thinking about making a full breakfast for us, Hiei and I. It'd been a while since I'd cooked for two. A little excited, I opened the fridge, but my smile drooped because nothing really looked edible. I'd given the rest of food to Hiei a couple of days ago and I vaguely remember dropping the groceries I'd bought yesterday when I'd met the others.

_Bzz. Bzzzz._

I was surprised when I recognized the door bell. _Who would be here so early in the morning?_ I went to the door and checked the small built-in hole.

Botan's normally wide smile looked distortedly even wider in the small glass and her eyes grew huge when she moved to stare directly into it.

"Ren? It's us! Are you there?"

"Yes, I'm here." I said and opened the door. Surprised, Botan stumbled backwards, looking playful, and revealed that she'd brought company. Behind her were Yusuke and two other girls I didn't recognize.

"Why hello there, dear, and good morning! I thought we'd just pop in for a visit! Mind if we come in?"

"No, not at all. Please," I moved aside to let them come in, and I couldn't help but curiously stare at the two girls. They were very pretty, I noted. The one that reached about my height, the taller one of the two, had short brown hair and warm brown eyes; the shorter one reminded me of a little bird, with turquoise hair and red eyes... again? Other than the lack of coldness and the desire to hurt me, they looked exactly like Hiei's. I quickly realized she must've been another demon and I tensed slightly.

"Oh, where are our manners?" Botan wiggled over to my side and presented each girl, "Ren, these are two very good friends of ours, Keiko and Yukina. I thought it would be nice to have everyone get to meet each other since you've already been admitted to our circle of trust! We girls have to stick together you know."

I noticed how Yusuke snorted and rolled his eyes, but I squeaked in surprise and fear when Keiko suddenly whipped her arm back and slugged Yusuke right in the mouth. Yusuke landed flat on his back, stars twinkling in his eyes. _She's a demon too?_

Keiko abruptly turned back to us and smiled brightly, as if she hadn't just knocked Yusuke down like a beast, and extended her hand.

"Hi, I hope we're not disturbing you since it _was _a surprise visit and all."

Beside her, Yukina smiled sweetly and bowed, "Yes, it's very nice to meet you."

Flushing lightly, I scrambled to grab Keiko's hand (albeit being a little cautious) and return Yukina's bow, "Oh, the pleasure is mine. But actually, I was just about to go out and buy groceries since I kind of lost the ones I had yesterday." I scratched my nose embarrassedly.

"Oh goodness, I completely forgot! I'll make it up to you then, so let us come with you!" Botan chirped.

"I suppose that would be ok, but," I drawled, "Hiei is actually asleep so I wouldn't want to just leave him here alone."

"Aw, aren't you an absolute dear!" Botan cooed and Keiko turned to Yusuke who'd sat up on the floor.

"You wouldn't mind staying, would you Yusuke?" she said cheerfully. Yusuke rubbed his head in pain and grunted.

"What, why do I have to-" it was like an ominous aura engulfed Keiko and I shivered. She stared steadily at Yusuke, still smiling, who began to shrink under her gaze.

"You're going to watch Hiei." Keiko muttered each word pleasantly, but her voice and eyes were cold, "Ok?"

"Yes, ma'am." Yusuke squeaked and Keiko's aura vanished.

"Good, then we'll be back later. Ready?" Keiko walked out the door happily, while the rest of us were left behind, trembling in fear. I swore to myself right then and there to take future notice about getting Keiko upset or on her bad side. I dared to even say that she might have been scarier than Hiei.

And that was saying something!

~.~.~.~.~.~.

I was surprised to find that I was actually enjoying myself with the girls. Honestly, I was a home-body and was really too lazy to really enjoy going anywhere while I could be at home relaxing or reading a good book, or whatnot, but I was having fun.

We'd already reached the market but all we did was walk around and the time was filled with stories of dangerous adventures. Botan assured me that they were all true, but I couldn't help but feel at least a little skeptical. I got that demons and other worlds now existed and all, but some of the things she told me just couldn't be real. I mean, the one story about Kuwabara trapping green beasts made from pieces of hair and the Spirit Sword Monster Beast Donut? Even Kuwabara couldn't be that lame.

I also discovered that Keiko was human after all, while Yukina actually was a demon. It confused me to no end; based on what I'd seen, I'm surprised it wasn't the other way around. I wasn't the only one who thought so either. Botan told me all about how powerful Yusuke was, but that out of all his enemies, Keiko was the one who got him every time. Keiko blushed pretty ferociously when she said that.

Yukina was something called an ice apparition and it threw me for another loop. Typically when someone mentioned the word 'demon,' images of red, grotesque monsters with horns and pitch forks always came to mind. But Yukina was one of the sweetest, kindest girls I'd ever met, and it seemed almost impossible that she could ever be marked under that picture.

It was nice to have things slow down and just go shopping as if everything was normal. It was a relieving breather from the last fast-paced couple days. We ended up in a small shop later and while Botan and Keiko browsed, I lingered in the back with Yukina when a thought occurred to me.

I don't think Hiei had any other clothes to wear and I wasn't about to leave him to just hang shirtless around the house for the rest of the time he was staying, more for my sake than for his.

I called Yukina over and she smiled.

"Did you find something you like?"'

I shook my head, "No, I was thinking that I should get Hiei some things, what do you think?"

At first she looked surprised, but then touched, as if I had just said I was giving her something instead. Then to my surprise, a sad smile crossed her face.

"For Hiei? That sounds like a wonderful idea!"

~.~.~.~.~.~.

When we finally made it back to the apartment, I stopped dead in my tracks and almost dropped my bags. Wrappers and trash littered the floor and there was even a cat strolling through the havoc. Pieces of furniture were scattered and an unknown substance dripped from the walls. Hiei was resting on a cabinet, watching Yusuke and Kuwabara- who had definitely _not_ been there before- wrestle on the ground.

Only when we'd all filed into the disaster area did the boys notice us.

Yusuke quickly stood up, "Oh hey, we were wondering when you guys would come back-" In a flash, Yusuke was on the floor, foaming at the mouth. We stared at Keiko's evil face in downright horror.

"Yusuke, you idiot! You were supposed to watch the house, not destroy it!" She stole the words right out of my mouth. I could only stare, speechless. While Keiko was dealing with Yusuke, Botan fetched the kitten and went over to Kuwabara and Yukina.

"Yukina! I was wondering when you were going to get here!" Kuwabara cried happily and Botan held out the cat.

"I believe this belongs to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's mine. I was just walking with her and I thought I'd come over when I heard that Yukina was going to be here, but it was just Urameshi and the runt instead." While he played with his cat, I found myself slowly gravitating towards Hiei who looked at me with indifference.

"What?"

"_What?_" I repeated, my blood quickly coming to a boil.

"That's what I just said." he said in boredom.

"Don't be smart! Look at this mess. You live here too now, so don't just sit there and let them do this. Get off your lazy butt! You seem healed enough to move around and help clean this up!"

I turned to look at Yusuke and Kuwabara and they both froze in the chilly room, "This place isn't going to clean itself."

I began to pick things up and on the request of the other girls (ahem, threat from Keiko) the boys began to help too, primarily against their will.

When I went to fetch the broom I saw that Hiei still hadn't moved, "Well, are you going to help us?"

"No."

I'd actually been prepared for this answer and was about to shoot out a clever comeback (as clever as responding to the word 'no' could get) when Yukina came over to me, placing a hand on my arm.

"It's alright, Ren. I'll help out too, so Hiei doesn't have to."

She reached out for the broom in my hand, until it was swiped from me before she could grab it. Hiei had taken it himself. Without another word, he moved away to start cleaning.

Stupefied, I looked at Yukina who just flashed my a know smile and went off. I'd have to ask her what kind of spell she'd just cast later, and then learn it for myself.

It took us quite a while to fix everything back up, and even longer to rub out the gooey stains on the wall. I wiped my brow in relief when we were finally done.

"Thank for helping guys." I said, to no one in particular.

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't forced me to." Yusuke muttered, but I ignored him.

Hiei entered the room from the kitchen, dusting his hands, and said glumly, "That was all the wrappers."

Keiko stretched, "I think we should be going soon seeing that it's a school night and all." Yusuke disagreed.

"That's why you should skip like Hiei and I and not worry about it." Keiko rolled her eyes. Botan and Yukina agreed with her though, and Kuwabara was just going to follow Yukina, so he was leaving too.

"Well then, today was fun. We'll see you soon Ren!" Botan said and after several goodbyes, the room was silent once more.

Hiei and I didn't exchange any words and I stood awkwardly at the door, not sure what to do. Then I spotted the bags I'd so quickly forgotten earlier. I grabbed them and peered inside: the clothes I'd gotten for Hiei.

I glance over my shoulder at him, only to find him staring at my back curiously, probably wondering what I was doing. At the time, getting him the clothes had seemed like a good choice, smart in fact, but now it suddenly seemed stupid. Flushing, I turned away.

But what could I do with them now? I'd already purchased them after all, and there was a distinct no-return policy. I might as well give them to him since I'd already went through all the trouble to get them in the first place.

"Hiei," I said firmly and he stared at me. Quickly losing my nerve, I almost sprinted over to him and avoided eye contact. Without allowing him to say or do anything, I threw the bag in his arms and I could tell that I had completely startled him.

"They're clothes, so go put on a shirt or something," I tried speaking normally, but the words came out rapidly and softly and with each one, my face felt like it was a little more on fire each time, "I figured you didn't have any, so now you don't have to walk around like that. Now, if you'll excuse me, " Looking down the whole time, I spun around and fled to my room, only remembering to breathe after I'd closed the door behind me.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei stared at the closed door for several moments and then pulled out the first thing he touched from the bag: a simple black shirt. He slipped it over his head and was content when it fit fine.

Gently setting the bag down, he strolled over to the next room and pulled the window open. He carefully stepped up to the edge, trying not to lose his balance. Losing his demonic energy, had seemed to not only have made him weaker but less coordinated as well.

How could humans stand to be as they were? They totally lacked even simple things like good balance and vision, along with other senses like smell. They were such stupid, useless creatures. If he'd actually been _born_ human... he didn't want to think about it.

It was as if he was trapped in a nightmare: as weak as a human and not able to do anything. It ticked him off.

He leapt up to the branch stretching closest and almost lost his grip. Luckily, he hadn't lost all of his strength so he was able to struggle on top of it and settled into the nook as he'd always done.

The sun set glowed a vibrant orange, giving everything a soft, hazy color. He closed his eyes, waiting for the sun to disappear behind the horizon. When he opened his eyes again, the moon was already glowing brightly.

In the dark, a yellow light was made obvious to him on his left. Ren's window was still opened from earlier; she must've forgotten to close it.

"Stupid girl, " he chided to himself. He readjusted himself at an angle to where he could see inside her room. She was sitting at a desk in the corner, and she wasn't moving except for the rise and fall of her back. She'd fallen asleep over her desk, and it looked like she was drooling as well.

"Hn, moron."

~.~.~.~.~.

A small drop of morning dew gently bounced on a leaf. It slid down the waxy texture and dripped onto the eyelid of a sleeping Hiei. Startled, he abruptly sat up, hand instinctively reaching for his katana. Cursing, he realized for the hundredth time that it just wasn't there.

It was still dim out and a thin layer of fog covered the ground; the sun was just beginning to rise. He yawned and leaned back, relishing the quiet morning. If only moments like this could last, he'd feel somewhat at peace with this place.

Ren's window was still open and he twitched when he saw her towel wrapped torso stick out. He didn't make a sound.

~.~.~.~.~.

I took a deep breath of the morning air and sighed, ringing out my hair outside the window. Grabbing a small brush, I began to absentmindedly stroke it as I looked towards the horizon, waiting for the sun to come up. It was typical routine. After I'd shower, I came here to gaze at dawn. I looked over the roofs of small houses and the awakening city and gazed up at the tree. It shook timidly in the slight wind. I paused mid-stroke.

A red flash- blinking. My eyes focused on the abnormal anomaly. It felt as if the waking, morning sun's heat had been quenched as Hiei only stared at me blankly, unmoving.

My brush took flight. Sailing through the air, it harshly hit my unsuspecting target in the eye and I watched in wicked satisfaction as Hiei struggled to regain any lost balance and fell from the branch. There was a loud thud and grunt, followed by an intense string of cursing. I could practically _feel_ Hiei's menacing glare, but I only tightened my towel, my face beat red. (As soon as I saw him drop, there was a slight spike of panic because of his wound, but it instantly vanished when I realized he seemed perfectly ok.)

"What the hell was that for?" Hiei yelled angrily.

"Don't play stupid with me you pervert! I saw you on your little peeping perch! If I ever catch you again-" I bit my tongue, stopping myself from uttering another word and slammed the window shut, in a mix of anger and chagrin.

_What an asshole!_ I pressed my back against the wall and carefully peered out the window, spying on him. Hiei had propped himself against the trunk, annoyance dominating his face. I escaped from the window and quickly got dressed, pulling my hair up quickly.

Collecting my bag, I marched into the kitchen and angrily fetched an apple. I chewed thoughtfully and found myself frowning. Maybe I'd been too harsh on him. It probably had hurt a lot when he'd landed on the ground like that, and he _was_ still recovering from his wounds, no matter how ok he seemed.

Guilt churned the apple in my stomach and I set it down, having lost my appetite. How could I have done that? What if he was in pain and was just being stubborn and not saying anything?

I rushed downstairs, jumping down the stairs two at a time. Making it around the corner, I halted in surprise. Hiei wasn't alone anymore. Kurama was leaning against the tree next to him. They seemed to be having a conversation although Hiei wasn't responding.

I felt relieved when it didn't seem like he was in any pain and there wasn't any red spots that I could see. Kurama looked up as I approached them, smiling.

"An, Ren. Good morning." he said.

"Good morning," I said, avoiding eye contact with Hiei whose eyes were boring holes into the side of my head.

"I've heard that there was a slight ruckus a little earlier." Kurama chuckled, handing me my brush which I accepted with a flushed face. Hiei must've told him what happened.

"Yes... actually that's one of the reasons I came out here unfortunately," I muttered that last part under my breath, but then forced myself to look down directly at Hiei.

"Regarding what you might've or might've not seen, I wanted to apologi-" I was abruptly cut off.

"Trust me, there was nothing to see."

I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth, taking a menacing step forward, "Wait just a second-"

"Excuse me?" I paused to see Kurama grinning in amusement, "If you'll allow me to finish my business, I'll be able to leave quicker and you'll be free to continue. This for you, Hiei," From a bag I hadn't noticed earlier, he pulled out a neatly folded pile of clothes and dropped it in Hiei's lap. In response to Hiei's look, Kurama pointed at himself and then at me.

"It's a another uniform to replace the one you practically ripped apart on your first day. Don't you remember? You still have to attend school."

Hiei's mood seemed to darken drastically, "I must have conveniently forgotten."

Kurama chuckled, "Well, I'll now leave you two to this fine morning." he raised a hand in farewell and walked away.

"I guess we'll see him later then..." I muttered and felt a light breeze swish past me. Hiei was already leaving. Sighing, I followed him, still fuming a bit on the inside.

I saw him disappear into my room and once inside, I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost 8 and we were already fighting.

Joy.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

We barely made it on time when we finally arrived. I'm surprised we got here at all. Unfortunately, the only empty seats in the entire room were the ones around mind. Hiei did nothing to hide his displeasure from being here and I watch how some kids tried to go up to him only to be chased off by his glare; he'd practically set up an impenetrable wall around him.

By the time the teacher got in, the class began to settle, but not even he could stop the whispers circulating around the room. From what I could make out, it was only rude gossip about Hiei. I peered at Hiei's back, wondering what could be going through his head.

"Class, we were supposed to have a new student yesterday, but due to certain circumstances, he was absent. But he's here today. Hiei Sukisho, is it?" Everyone's head turned in unison at Hiei expectantly. I was surprised when he actually stood up, and without a word, pocketed hands, and grimace on his face, he sauntered to the front. He faced the class with a bored expression.

Mr. Renji tapped his knuckles, waiting for Hiei to say something, but he didn't say a word. I almost wanted to laugh. Growing impatient, Mr. Renji cleared his throat.

"Well Mr. Sukisho, will you introduce yourself to the class and tell us something about yourself so we can make it easier for us to get along?"

Hiei glared at him and the man flinched under his gaze and then Hiei turned towards the student body again. No student dared look at him straight on.

Hiei kept his introduction short and sweet, "It's Hiei and I don't want to get along with any of you." He walked back to his seat while everyone just stared at him in disbelief. I found it incredibly difficult keep a straight face.

After an awkward silence, Mr. Renji tried to get things back to normal, "Er, well good to know. I hope we all get along. Anyways, we had an update from the girl who collapsed yesterday and they say that she's to see a full recovery, it's quite remarkable really. But now to it, today..."

~.~.~.~.~.~.

"Could that day have been any longer?" I said, more to myself than anything with Hiei silently traveling behind me, "But it's great that that girl will be ok, don't you think?"

"Hn."

So much for any chance of small talk, but I continued to chat with him, trying to fill the quiet air and awkward silence.

I was thankful when we finally reached the apartment because frankly, I'd run out of topics, but I was surprised by the unexpected trio at my door.

"Why hello there!" greeted Botan, beaming and laughing; I noticed Hiei's glance of distaste

"Hi Botan. And Keiko and Yukina too. What brings you all here? Have you been waiting for a long time?"

Keiko shook her head, "No, we actually just got here."

Yukina smiled, "We just thought to visit." She turned to Hiei and bowed kindly, "Good afternoon to you too Hiei."

And then the strangest thing happened. A smile crossed his face. It was small but very real. My head was reeling. Ok, there was definitely something going on here...

"Hello, Earth to Ren? Are you alright?" Keiko was shaking my shoulders.

"Oh! Sorry, my mind must've slipped off. Hold on," I quickly unlocked the door, missing their exchanged bewildered looks.

"Please come in." I ushered them in and escaped to make tea.

"Say Ren," I heard Botan call from the other room. I looked up from the tea pot.

"Yes?"

"I hadn't thought about it before, but every time we've come here, it's only been you, disregarding Hiei of course. Don't you have any parents? Don't tell me you live by yourself!"

She didn't really hold back, did she? Clicking the spoon against the last cup, I was silent, unconsciously stroking my ribbon once again.

"Ren?" I heard a timid call.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm coming." I lifted the tray and headed for the living room, shaking my head.

"I don't live by myself, but I'm usually alone."

As I served the drinks, Yukina said, "Who lives with you?"

"My uncle. But he's always away due to work and is usually gone for several weeks at a time. Good thing to, or I don't think he would've been ok with all this demon and Spirit World business." I chuckled humorlessly and I hoped that my tone made my message clear: _I don't want to talk about it._

Botan took the hint and looked guilty, resolving to drinking her tea after uttering a small, "Oh."

Hiei quietly stared at me and quickly looked away when I caught him. Hiei had deep and intense eyes and having them trained on me made me scared, not from him but what he might be seeing; it was as if he could see inside me.

Shaking off the feeling and avoiding anymore eye contact with him, I stood up and addressed the girls politely.

"I don't mean to be ruse you guys, but I actually have to get to work n half an hour, and I should get going."

"We didn't know you worked!" Keiko exclaimed.

"Yes, we practically invited ourselves over. We're sorry," Yukina bowed in apology and I quickly calmed her down, responding to the hate Hiei was glaring at me with.

"No it's ok, really! It's always nice to have guests." I said, smiling.

"Where do you work?" Botan asked.

"It's this small little pub called My Pleasure. It's a couple of blocks away but I don't get off till 9. You guys can stay if you want, but if you do, would you mind keeping the place fairly neat just in case anybody else comes over? I don't want to come back to another mess."

Botan and the others nodded while Hiei just "Hn'd."

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Thank you for waiting ma'am, it was my pleasure!" I slipped to the back of the room where a girl was waiting for me.

"Hey Hashi, I'm here to relieve you." She chirped. I sighed in relief and happily handed over the platter I was holding.

"This is for table 5, and thank you!" I whizzed to the staff room, making a beeline for my locker around the other people. I changed out of my uniform and into some sweats and a t-shirt. I was excited to get home. Or not necessarily excited ,but just happy.

The manager had scolded me pretty well for missing work without any notice a couple of days ago, but she'd let me off easy. All I wanted to do was get home and relax a little.

As I shuffled out the back door, I squawked when I saw a small figure come out from the shadows.

"Hiei! Jeez, don't scare me like that..." I rested my hand over my beating heart, "What are you doing here? And was it really safe to be out by yourself?"

He glanced at me with his blank eyes, "I didn't come to be patronized." he said bitterly, "And I didn't choose to come here. The others asked me to come pick you up."

I blinked. Since when did Hiei do favors for anyone?

"Oh, did Yukina ask you?" the question just slipped out.

"Hn." snorting, Hiei whirled without another word. Sighing, I went after him.

~.~.~** A couple of days later** ~.~.~.~

"Just get out!" I shoved Hiei out the door and into the dim light of the evening. I threw the door shut, catching a glimpse of the hatred-filled face a he turned to snarl. I immediately locket it. I knew I was acting juvenile, but at the moment I was to pissed off to really care.

I saw the knob jiggle and heard a muffled, but aggravated yell. The door frame began to vibrate and there was a large _thok!_ I felt myself tremble in anger- he didn't have to kick the freaking door down. I held my breath for a few moments, waiting, and trying to settle my speeding heart. Several moments passed.

_Thok!_

I sighed heavily and forced myself to walk away. Halting at my bedroom door, I noticed the wide-open window, the curtains gently fluttering in the breeze. I'd gotten in the habit of just constantly keeping open for Hiei's convenient enter and exit habits regardless of the fact that there was actually a **door**, but I quickly shut it, pulling the curtains across the night sky.

I wasn't intending to let him in anytime soon. I didn't even know when he'd come back. Or maybe he wouldn't come back.

Koenma might get me for this...

...

Hm. Oh well.

Collapsing on my bed, I enjoyed the sinking feeling while my body released its pent up tension from being so angry. I felt a twitching nerve in my head start to settle.

I never realized how much quieter it had always been without Hiei here. it was almost too quiet. But only almost, especially since I didn't get enough of it anymore.

Honestly, how were we supposed to stay together another _day_ when we couldn't even be peaceful in each other's presence for an hour? I closed my eyes and pressed the cool part of my hand against my heated head.

I thought it over, refusing to admit that I might've been a little more immature than necessary. And the "slamming-the-door-in-his-face" thing probably didn't help much either, although it did add a nice touch. But still, for the moment, I wanted to care less about where Hiei had gone and not waste any more time thinking about it.

Which I was doing anyways.

I yelled out loud, the mix between a groan and random pitched tones; I had to admit, although it didn't solve anything, it was nice to get my problem out into the open, regardless of the fact that it had come out as incoherent sounds. Allowing the quiet to settle back down, my thoughts drifted to the previous days and the twitching nerve came back. I reached up to physically smooth out my angry wrinkles.

I was trying to relax, I told myself. I need to relax.

After Hiei had picked me up, it'd been an incredibly awkward trip home. At least, for me it was. He was like a silent brick with an aura that I didn't even want to try and penetrate. And even for his size, since he was at least a couple of inches shorter than me, he had a long and very quick stride so that I almost had to jog to keep up with him. By the time we had arrived home, I was pink in the face with sweat coating the back of my neck. When we'd gotten inside, he disappeared somewhere and I didn't see him for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I remember looking for Hiei to wake him, in the dining room (although Hiei always slept in the tree, I tried insisting that he have an "official" living quarters just in case it rained or anything, so I rolled out a futon) but when I'd opened the door, I'd remembered panicking at the sight or rather not the sight, of any empty room. There was no futon, not even our table, and there was no Hiei.

Questions that needed answering flew through my head: Did he sneak out? How did he? Where did all the stuff go? What am I going to do? Will Koenma really come and erase my memories? How much would he erase without getting rid of anything important? What happened to Hiei? What happened to the futon? What happened to the _table?_

I'd frantically searched for an hour, when I'd finally noticed that the door was unlocked. Almost right after, I found the table pushed up right by the door, the futon folded neatly on top of it. But I didn't find the main culprit.

I deduced that he must've actually left. I didn't know what else could have happened, but if he wasn't at school I don't know what I'd do.

However, when I got there, I didn't find him in class, but on the roof, squishing a bug. Besides that, I'd cracked a twisted smile and muttered a "good morning " although I really wanted to add _and for moving all my furniture and for practically dropping off the face of the Earth without even saying anything._ Smashing the dead insect, he only "Hn'd."

That night, I made dinner for two. I ate in the hallway, which was uncomfortable, but Hiei didn't look like he was about to help me put the table back and he'd gone straight to the dining room. I didn't see him for the rest of that night either. So I just left his food by the doorway, tapping the screen to let him know, although I didn't receive an answer. I was hoping that maybe he'd take it when I wasn't looking like he normally did when I wasn't looking. I don't think he'd eaten for a while, so I made sure to load the plate with a few extras.

The next morning, he'd been gone again, but his plate was spotless. I remember smiling.

The following days had been something of this nature: Wake up. No Hiei. School. Home. No Hiei. Work. Sleep. And repeat. But I got smart and started leaving wrapped foods by his door in the morning, so he'd have at least a little breakfast to last him the day. I began experimenting, leaving some type of food one day and when I'd notice that maybe he'd eaten more of on than the other, I'd swap, discerning his tastes indirectly. I concluded that among his favorites were sweet tamagoyaki, flavored onigiri, and tsukemono. But I never mentioned anything about it at school because I'd doubt he'd admit anything anyways.

But today being a Saturday changed things. There was no school for Hiei to escape to this morning and it was strange seeing him; I'd already gotten so used to our daily routine. When I was walking out of my room, I was stunned to find him walking out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist, his usual spiky hair sagging with the weight of the water. Tomato red, I stuttered an apology and I ran back into my room.

Couldn't he have stood to be a little more considerate? He was still a guest here, but he was acting like he owned the place! Walking around with just a towel was totally inappropriate, especially since there was a lady in the house! I made sure to wait a good half hour before daring to venture out again.

The morning passed by slowly and silently. Hiei was just as unapproachable as ever and although there were things I wanted to discuss, I felt too intimidated. Where had my backbone run off to? It was easier to talk, or rather yell at him, when we were fighting, which I realized we hadn't done recently. I hadn't seen him enough in the past couple of days long enough to actually start something, which surprised me.

I thanked Kami when there was a knock on the door. The cavalry had arrived, or it had at least sounded like that. I almost wanted to laugh when I saw the pure annoyance on Hiei's face. The entire party consisted of Keiko, Botan, and Yukina, then Yusuke (who'd actually had the nerve to bring alcohol, which was quickly thrown out) and Kuwabara who were comparing muscle size and then Kurama and Koenma. It was a full house!

The guys spent the time discussing things in hushed and serious discussions and I almost felt like we were being left out in something important, but I had no time to pay attention because the girls kept me busy. It was nice, but I have to admit that I wasn't really used to the noise and chaos and by late afternoon, I was more than a little glad to be saying goodbye.

I was a little more sad to see Yukina go though. We'd been having a very good conversation and I felt like we were getting closer. And she was good at getting Hiei to do things. And that's where things kind of started. To the throwing him out ordeal, I mean.

I'd ended up making dinner for the both of us and before, Hiei had been able to escape to the safety of the dining room, but this time I caught him by the shoulder, telling him that I wanted to have dinner together for a change. For the majority, I don't know why I did it, but I knew a small part of me was curious to see Hiei actually eat. Plus I'd made a new plate so it would be another experiment. At first, he refused to eat with me, but I didn't take it sitting down.

After that skirmish, which I might say was completely ridiculous, he actually did sit down with me, but only long enough to make sure I wasn't looking when he took the first bite of soup- a personal special of mine- and spray it all over the table, including me. The salty soup smelled all over.

It got a little messy.

...

I lied. It got a _lot_ messy. It's almost funny how the first time we really interact in days and we're at each other's throats.

I looked through the think curtains and noticed the sky had turned considerably darker. To myself, I mimicked Hiei's common remark, "I can take care of myself, moron" (he'd started calling me a moron quite frequently) I checked the window again. No Hiei.

I shook my head. No! I wasn't going to worry about him! I'm not worried. Definitely not. Yup...

I wandered out into the hall, peering down at the mess we'd made together. There was no way I was going to clean that up myself. Plus, I suppose it would spoil soon, so that decided it! I better find Hiei quickly, to clean this up! Or at least, that's what I told myself. I wasn't anxious or anything.

I grabbed a jacket and left, taking the stairs down two at a time, trying to hurry. On the last step, i felt my foot catch on a hitch in the framework of the metal railing and I gasped. The ground came rushing up fast and I whipped my arms forward blindly.

I quickly righted myself, wiping dirt and stones from my hands on my jeans, grimacing. My hand felt slightly damp.

However, a fresh breeze flew past me and I relaxed, feeling my mind go slightly hazy, and I quickly forgot about my hand.

A soft tune was permeating my mind, and I let the sweet and pleasant melody to overflow. It was a high soprano pitch, like the jingle of a small bell. It echoed in my head like the never ending sound of a wind chime.

I was losing focus on things, but the breeze and the song felt so nice and I submitted, figuring the wind would lead me where it may. I felt my eyes droop and I was barely able to make out a small sliver.

My mind elsewhere, it was like waking in a dream, onward and onward, and all there was, was the soft ringing, the hypnotic repetition of the crunch under my feet, and the force that seemed to be pulling me along.

~.~.~.~.~.

The melody dissolved; I blinked, disoriented and dazed. I struggle to get out of my groggy state. Looking around, no houses or buildings were in sight. I was beginning to feel an ache in my feet. _That must've been a really good walk for me to practically fall asleep during it!_

I was on a gravelly path of multicolored pebbles, surrounded by trees and a couple of mildly faded wooden benches. A small playground was placed a little towards the back of the clearing. Street lamps littered the side of the path which spun and twisted throughout the area like a snake. A light above me flickered slightly, making a clicking sound. How did I end up at the park?

Walking over to the playground, I maneuvered around a slide to sit on a swing. Grabbing the chain, I sat down and gently rocked. The metal felt icy beneath my fingers.

I'm still not sure how I ended up here of all places, but I knew I should be headed back soon. I wonder if Hiei had found his way home...

Suddenly there was a loud shuffle in the trees. I froze, sticking my feet out and kicking wooden chips up. But the sound didn't stop; it just seemed to get louder and even more insistent. Nerves were getting the better of me. _It's got to just be an owl or something. _I was probably just a little spooked because it was dark and I was alone.

...

Why did I come out here alone again?

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled sharply and I peeped in fright. Jumping from the swing, I clutched the chain as if it could protect me. My head swiveled around, checking for any signs of others in the area.

A twig snapped and I swallowed a breath, feeling completely exposed. I bit my lip and tried to distract myself with the pain.

_Stop it! Nothing's out there right now. I'm just being paranoid because it's a little dark and creepy._ I gazed amongst the surrounding trees. A wind blew and they began waving at me. I shivered and clenched my hand. A sudden pain gripped me and I cried out, startling myself.

I opened my fist and peered at it in shock: there were several gashes running jaggedly against my hand. There were 3 main incisions and they looked slightly wet, while the majority of my hand was covered in dry blood. How had I not felt this before?

Without warning, there was flash of green light and something was flying towards my. I didn't have the time to think. Shrieking, I dived to the left, landing hard on the ground in a flurry of dust.

What the heck just happened?

Coughing up dirt, my eyes darted to the spot I'd been standing on just seconds before, now a small crater about five feet wide and just as deep. I squeaked. That could have been me! I tried to find the source of the blow, from the top of the tree. A figure lounged on a branch, but my eyes swam with dirt and I couldn't focus.

"If you had just stayed still, it would have ended quickly, you know." the voice was male, serious, and even a little sympathetic. Shaking, I struggled to pull myself onto my knees, until I saw the silhouette raise an arm and a green glow began to form on his hand. I stared, half in fear and half in amazement, as the glow manifested into an orb. My stomach felt like a roller coaster.

I stuttered, "Who- who are you?"

He stood up and peered down at me, "Tatsuya, but you don't have to worry about that for long."

I saw Tatsuya smile under the flicker of the street lamp and the orb stopped glowing. _Run you freaking idiot! _I yelled at myself and I would have gladly obliged but my legs felt numb underneath me. My whole body felt frozen and I couldn't move, to scared to even blink. He stepped forward.

Then my brain reactivated.

Crying out, I forced myself up and moved just as I felt a huge blow of power surge behind me. My feet lifted off the floor and I screamed as I tumbled through the air for a few eternal seconds. I crashed on my side and my breath was squashed out of me, leaving my rasping. I struggled to get back up, my body pumping with adrenaline from fear.

"You should really just give up." I could hear the frown in his voice. He sounded frustrated, like someone would be trying to squish a bug that you just couldn't get a solid shot at.

"It'd make life easier for the both of us."

I started to run again, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, trying to get away from here as quickly as I could. Then I did the worst think I possibly could do.

I looked back.

I should've known better. This happened only like a week ago!

In an instant, my legs submerged into a sudden depression. The crater! I was filled with sick realization as I processed the situation. Id' basically finished myself off.

_It's all over!_

I cried out as I tumbled awkwardly and hard into the large hole and a loud crack snapped through the air. A string of fire shot up my leg from my ankle and several tears fell from the incredible pain. Brilliant. Of course, I'd be on to break my ankle, disabling all chances of escape. Not that I really had any chances in the first place.

There was really nothing I could do and my heart slowly dropped, coming to terms with my inevitable fate. Tatsuya was going to kill me while I stayed put like a sitting duck.

"Are you done running? Was that really all you had to offer? Asami must've been wrong about you," Tatsuya peered down at me from the edge of the hold and I trembled like a leaf.

"For some reason, Asami thought there was something special about you, some specific reason why you , a mere human girl, would be hanging around with Koenma and his gang." As he said this, my eyes widened. Tatsuya must've been working with that guy who attacked Hiei.

"Plus you were hanging with that fire demon Hiei before Minoru got him. So I was ordered to finish you off, but you look pitiful down there. It actually makes me feel bad to finish you." he paused, "There's nothing unique about you. Any spirit energy that you have is practically nothing and luring you here must have been the easiest thing I've ever done. You didn't even realize when I put you under my song charm." He lifted his other hand and I caught a glint of silver. A flute! So that music earlier...

"Also, the strong smell of you blood led me right to you."

A sour taste filled my mouth as me hand began to sting, reminding me of my early accident. I might as well have served myself up, complete with toppings, on a silver platter.

But I'd noticed another thing: they must not have realized that Hiei was still alive! A small part inside of me felt relieved. Tatsuya sighed.

"Don't worry- I promise to make it quick." I snapped my gaze to his glowing hand and I could feel the heat waving around my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, my heart hammering in my ears. I couldn't believe I was about to die. _I don't want to die!_

A small tear escaped and, at the moment, I couldn't remember ever feeling as pathetic as I did now. Then there was suddenly a choking anger churning inside me and I began to tremble, whether still from fear or fury, I didn't know.

If only I had never met Hiei! I'd never have ended up in this situation if only I'd never helped him! Some kind of force began to rip its way up my throat and I gritted my teeth. My mouth was forced open and I began screaming.

"Hiei you GOD DAMN-"

"Ren!"

I couldn't think anymore. Great, now I was hearing things.

"_Move!_" Wait that was- ! But then there was a sharp lashing and Tatsuya's fist flared. I screamed and there was silence.

~.~.~.~.~.

The silence must've lasted only a few seconds, but they'd felt like an eternity. I realized I could still feel the fast pace of my heart continuing to race. I slowly opened one eye. Tatsuya wasn't in sight.

For a moment, I was confused until I felt something rustle beside me, sliding down to my side. A pair of arms began reaching out to me and I flinched back, reactively clawing out. The figure grabbed my arms, but I tried to pull myself away.

"Stay away from me!" My voice was raspy and choked. The brief joy of realizing I was still alive evaporated.

"Hn, fine with me. I don't care if you live or not."

I stopped struggling, as the voice instantly clicked in my head. I allowed myself to readjust my sight and Hiei was there, staring at me. I could only stare back.

"H-Hiei!" Although Hiei only glared at me, I couldn't feel happier to see him.

"Hn. What was that about 'god damn'?"

"Er..."

"Ren are you alright?" I looked up to see Kurama looking down at us, his green eyes shining with concern. Hiei stood up and looked over the edge of the hole and I followed suit, having to grab onto Hiei's arm to pull myself up. Leaning heavily on my uninjured side, I saw Tatsuya a distance away, his face twisted; he was slouching and gripping onto his arm.

Hiei eyed him coldly. While looking at Tatsuya, I gasped. By his finger tips, I saw a red liquid dripping down. Following the flow, it led to a deep and nasty gash on his arm.

_But how did that happen?_ for the first time, I noticed Kurama wielding some sort of green vine by his side. It was covered in vicious thorns and I flinched away when I noticed glistening, dark red stains.

Kurama glowered at Tatsuya, "If you hadn't moved, it could have ended quickly. Can't you follow your own advice?" Tatsuya made a low guttural sound, but straightened up.

"I can deal with a small cut like this. It's too bad though. If you hadn't shown up, my work here would've been done and I could have gone home early. And it looks like someone's come back from the grave," Tatsuya shifted his eyes on Hiei, his voice dripping with anger.

Hiei chuckled, "What? Are you talking about that pathetic excuse of a demon, Minoru, who thought he could finish me? Like I'd let such a lowly demon place a scratch on me."

I gaped in raw astonishment. What was he talking about? Last I checked, it was a little more than a scratch! Minoru had practically tossed him down on his death bed!

Kurama's eyes flashed, "Now, don't mind them. Your opponent right now will be me." He cast a sidelong look at Hiei and I, "Hiei, take Ren and escape from here. Even as you are, you should be able to get out fairly quickly. I will handle him."

Hiei glowered at him, "Kurama don't be ridiculous. Like hell am I going to back away from a fight-"

Kurama smirked, "Be wise Hiei. We both know you'd be no help to me. You would only slow me down. And it wouldn't help if we got Ren killed in the process." I silently agreed.

Hiei's expression darkened and he clenched his fists, "Tch, whatever. This guy doesn't look worth it anyways." Kurama only chuckled.

"Wait," cried Tatsuya, looking downright villainous, "Don't think I'm just going to let you go so easily. None of you are getting away." I gasped in fear when his fists began to glow again.

Kurama crouched, "Hiei!"

Hiei hn'd, muttering, "Right."

Suddenly, my world spun as I felt an arm grab my waist and I was pulled from the hole. I hissed in agony when my ankle twisted. Hiei looked at me.

"What is it?" he asked. I clenched my teeth, wishing the pain away.

"I think I broke my ankle." I muttered weakly.

Hiei scoffed, "Hn, moron. You think?" he pointed at my foot and I looked. Not only was it twisted in the wrong direction and was purple, but a huge gash ran diagonally from my heel to the main swelling. Blood dribbled down, soaking my sock. I forced myself to look away.

"I was blindly running for my life Hiei! What would I- Kyaa!" I screamed as Hiei, without warning, scooped me onto his back, hooking his arms around my legs. Although I could tell he was trying to be gentle with my ankle, I still whimpered when it thumped gently against his thigh.

"Would you mind watching it?"

"Would you mind shutting up?"

"Actually-" I was cut off though when Hiei leapt and landed a few feet back. I felt a surge of power fly past us. Next thing I know, there's a very similar hold dented where we'd just been standing. Steam licked up around the edges.

Unconsciously, I tightened my grip on Hiei. I saw Tatsuya smirking against us from afar, but then a line of green sailed at him. Tatsuya quickly flipped backwards, twisting on his good arm, and as Kurama lashed forward again, he pushed himself up to the side. Kurama yelled at us again.

"Hiei, leave already. You're being a hindrance."

Hiei growled beneath me, "I don't take orders Kurama." But he readjusted his grip on me and turned to start running. While we weren't flying over buildings like before, Hiei's speed was still a lot faster than a normal person's. But I struggled.

"Wa-wait Hiei! We can't just leave Kurama there!" I knew I was yelling, but I didn't seem to have control of my voice. But Hiei didn't stop and only laughed dryly.

"We can and we will. You don't know Kurama; he can take care of himself."

"But-" I stopped talking. There was no point in arguing. I tried to look back, the sounds of explosions and Kurama's whip cracking fading behind us. Settling into Hiei's back, I realized I'd still been trembling the entire time.

We were on a side road by now. The wind whistled in my ears. My arms were secure around Hiei's neck and I buried my head into the crook of his neck.

He grunted, "Stop holding so tight." I ignored him.

...

"I-" Hiei tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"I- I was so scared." The last word came out broken and cracked. Hiei faced back forward.

"Hn, like I said: moron."

[End]

Well, how'd I do for this chappy? Good, bad? Please feel free to tell me how horrible or not horrible of a writer I am! Or to actually comment on the story or something crazy like that. Please let me know what you're thinking! :D Please review! ^^


	5. Two Faced Life

;A; People, please don't hate me... my God it's been so long ;_; But summer is so close... I'm going to go crazy with trying to pick up the story again! I recommend skimming last chapters if you aren't lazy like me, just for a refresher c: But if you don't need one, then please, read ahead! And review :D

**stacikate16: **I'm sorry it had to stop! But I love that fact that you could get so involved with it :D Thank you for the review ~!

**individuality-has-a-name-me: **Oh, well thanks for that. I actually remember thinking about it when I typed that out...I should have just gone with my gut and known that it sounded weird :P

**MyLifeInWhole: **Thank you so much! I'm super glad you think so! I always want to improve, but I always feel like I don't, so I appreciate you saying that a lot! ^^

**Kshepps27: **xD I hope this one lives up to your expectations! Thank you for the review!

**dani1014: **O.O omg! Thank you~! :'D Your review made me so happy, you have no freaking idea! I know it's a little silly, but when I first started imagining this story and it kept growing, I couldn't help but think back to the anime and kind of putting this story into the anime xD Here's the next chapter, so I hope you love it! :D

**Tay: **Thank you! :3 I'm so sorry this is super late... school is a real murderer T-T

**Abyss Tales: **Don't worry! I'm not a fan of tragic ends myself :I Thank you for the review! :'D

Disclaimer: ...T-T

Chapter 5: Two-Faced Life

I blinked, unsure of where I was. Looking around, I was confused although I really shouldn't have been. I was in my bed, in my room, light spilling like gold through the windows. Everything was as it should be.

But everything felt...wrong.

"You're finally awake."

Hiei was lounging on a chair beside my bed, looking bored as per usual.

"Hiei..." I whispered and visions floated to the top of my mind. Leaving the house, the music, the park, Tatsuya, Kurama and Hiei rescuing me just in time...

My eyes snapped wide open. In a fit, I lunged for Hiei and grabbed his shoulders urgently, startling him. My head began to pound with the action of moving so fast...

"Hiei! Are you ok? Where's Kurama? What happened to Tatsuya?" The sentences were coming out so fast that I couldn't stop them, but Hiei only pushed me away, holding me upright.

"Stop talking and calm down!" He ordered firmly.

I instantly shut my mouth, although I didn't want to. My eyes burned and Hiei, seeing my face, immediately released me and backed away. He refused to meet my gaze. I sniffed, holding my aching head in my hands.

"Sorry," I muttered, "I really- I just- I don't know where the tears are coming from!" I cried helplessly. Through my tears, I could tell Hiei wanted nothing more than to get away.

"Good heavens! Hiei what did you do to the poor dear?"

"Botan," I hiccupped. She approached us from the doorway, concerned.

"What did you do now, Hiei?" I looked around Botan who was giving me a full inspection.

"Kurama!" I gasped out loud and my mouth went dry. His right arm was wrapped and slung in a messy tie-up job and I could spot several nasty cuts in multiple places.

Hiei glared at Kurama, his arms crossed, "I didn't do anything. She woke up and started crying on her own."

Kurama arched an eyebrow, "I doubt that."

Brushing some tears away, and feeling embarrassed, I protested, "No, it really wasn't him. I don't know what came over me." I took a shaky breath and Botan used her sleeve to wipe my face.

"It's alright Ren. I think you're just feeling a little stressed and overwhelmed at the moment; just relax and focus on settling down." She said comfortingly. I nodded lightly and turned to Kurama.

"Kurama, are you ok? What happened to your arm?" I asked.

Kurama looked at me steadily, "What do you remember from last night?"

Botan frowned and tried to protest that it might be to better to let me rest for a bit, but I shook my head. I tried recalling the chronology from last night, but my head was still pounding and it hurt to think hard.

"All I remember most of was when Hiei and I ran away, leaving you to fight. I don't even remember coming home."

"I didn't _run away,_" Hiei growled. "I was mostly trying to keep you from getting _in_ the way."

Kurama glanced at Hiei, "Well, unfortunately, I wasn't able to apprehend our villain-"

"Tatsuya," I said, clenching my hands to stop them from shaking.

He nodded, "And I wasn't able to get away completely unscathed either, but his wounds appeared worse than mine. Mine aren't really that serious."

I frowned, "What happened to Tatsuya?" Kurama reflected my frown.

"I'm not sure. For a moment he was there, and then his presence vanished like he'd never been there in the first place." There was a moment of contemplative silence.

Botan looked at me, "You've been asleep most of the day and we were wondering if you were ever going to wake up! We left Hiei to watch you, but what about you?"

"What?" I said, confused.

Botan swept her hand over me, "I mean, are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?"

I'd completely forgotten about my own wounds. Automatically, I glanced down at my right hand with the gash that'd caused the whole mess in the first place, but I did a double take when I found it cleaned and wrapped in a firm bond of white gauze. I couldn't feel much pain except after I'd flexed my fingers several times, feeling the thin skin that'd grown over already start to strain after too much exertion.

Silently, I checked under the sheets and stared in surprise, oblivious to Botan's questioning gaze.

My ankle was bandaged firmly too and rested in an upright position. However, when I attempted to move it, I jolted in pain. It was still broken. Botan examined my medical attention.

"I guess Hiei already fixed you up pretty well, but I'll go ahead and redo them for fresh bandages. Kurama will you help me?" Botan and Kurama left the room, leaving just Hiei and I again. It really surprised me that Hiei had done this- he never struck me as the guy who would ever lift a finger to help others. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, I couldn't bring myself to look at him and I flushed. He didn't say anything either. I knew I really should've thanked him though, for going through so much trouble to help me, especially since I knew how he felt like I was just a pain in his rear.

"Um, Hiei-" But I was interrupted because right at that moment there was a puff of smoke in the middle of the room. I gasped loudly, sucking and coughing on some of the smoke, my heart beating like a snare drum, while Hiei leapt to his feet.

After the smoke cleared, we could clearly see Koenma, a hand held up in greeting. He'd come from nowhere! I wonder if he could just appear anywhere whenever he wanted.

"Yo." he said.

Coughing a bit more, I grimaced, "Was all that really necessary?"

"Of course. This is how you leave good impressions: with flashy entrances!" He gave me a thumbs up, but I just stared at him incredulously. Hiei hn'd.

"Sorry if I scared you though, but I got the memo from Botan. Sounds like you had quite an adventure last night."

I smiled grimly, wincing when I moved my leg, "Yeah. Right. An adventure."

Koenma peered down at my messed up ankle, "I see you didn't get away home free either."

"Really," I answered flatly, unamused. From my side, there was a small sound, like a quick exhale of breath; I stared at Hiei. I could've sworn...no, it couldn't have been... but, did he just _laugh?_ I didn't think it was possible!

"Here we are, Ren! I hope you don't mind us using your supplies- Oh, Koenma sir! When did you get here?" Botan entered the room with my first-aid kit, followed by Kurama.

"Ah, Botan, Kurama. I arrived just a moment ago. Anyways, back to our discussion. Getting attacked by the enemy is no small matter Ren, especially since it was you."

"Why since it was especially me?" I asked worriedly. I'd never done anything!

"It can't just be a coincidence, " Koenma explained, "I need you to tell me everything that happened last night."

"But I can't really..." I trailed off. I could suddenly picture Tatsuya telling me how Asami, whoever she was, thought there'd been something 'special' about me. I could feel everyone's eyes trained on me. Even Hiei was looked at me.

I threaded my fingers together nervously, "Well, last night, Hiei and I had this...fight and I might've kicked him out, " blushing like a cherry, I glanced at Hiei who'd turned away.

"After a little bit, I left the house to look- I mean, to take a walk and I accidentally cut my hand open because I tripped down the stairs, but I forgot all about it because there was suddenly this enchanting charm-like music in the air..." my mind began to go hazy again and I felt myself relax, the tension leaving my body.

"Ren?" Botan inquired, concerned, seeing the dreamy expression taking root on my face.

"Ren, focus. Forget about the music. Get it out of your head!" Koenma snapped in my face and I blinked, my mind clearing.

Hiei leaned back, "I've experienced something like this before. Tatsuya must have mastered a sound hypnotizing technique."

Feeling a bit confused I shook my head, "Er, sorry... anyways, where was I?"

"The music."

"Right, the next thing I knew, I found myself in the park- Ow!" I bit my tongue as Botan began unwrapping my bandages. She muttered a small apology, but told me to continue.

"I was completely confused when I realized where I was, but then Tatsuya showed up and attacked me. I was trying to run away, but I fell in a hole, " I said sheepishly, realizing how idiotic it really sounded, "and that's where Hiei and Kurama found me."

I hugged myself, feeling chilled all of the sudden. When I spoke again, my voice was small and far away.

"That's...all I remember."

There was a pause in the room.

"Ren, did he _say_ anything to you? Anything at all?" Koenma asked.

I hesitated, "He told me who he was, but otherwise..."

I don't know what compelled me to lie. But I sensed something deep inside myself that told me otherwise. Beneath it all lay a secret feeling- as if not bringing it up or admitting to it would make it not 'real,' like it didn't really happen. Hiei gazed at me with a complicated expression.

Koenma sighed, "Well that doesn't help us at all." Botan made finishing touches to my ankle while Koenma began to slowly look back and forth between Hiei and I. It was making me nervous.

"I...have an idea." Koenma said slowly. Knots began to roll around in my stomach- the last idea he'd had was for Hiei to be staying here... his ideas weren't exactly good. I didn't know what he could be thinking, but the look on his face made me wary.

"A big thing in this case is the question of why they attacked you, Ren and not anyone else. It's much too coincidental that they targeted you of all the people in the city. I suppose you are an easy target, but they didn't even go after Hiei although he's weak. Of course, from what Kurama's told me, it sounds like they thought Hiei was dead for a time. This leads me to the conclusion that they _couldn't _sense him, with his demonic energy being 'held hostage,' if you will. You see, each demon's energy has its own unique wavelength and has a certain individual clarification to it, like a tag of sorts."

"But then again Koenma, " said Kurama, "Just because Tatsuya established how they thought Hiei had been dead could just mean that they didn't bother looking for him at all in the first place."

"That just also supports the fact that they must not have sensed him."

Kurama sighed softly, "Perhaps."

Koenma nodded, "So, taking this into account... I want to place a spirit bond on the two of you so neither of you can leave the other's side. If the enemy wanted to find them, they probably wouldn't be able to because Hiei is like a messed up radio signal."

Botan and Kurama thought this over, but I cocked my head in confusion.

"I get everything else, but what's a spirit bond?" I asked and looked at Hiei, thinking he could explain, but he wasn't paying any attention to me at all. In fact, he seemed to be glaring at maximum strength at Koenma.

"You have got to be _joking_, Koenma. There is no way I'm getting tied down to _her._" he jabbed a finger at me and I glowered back. He said 'her' as if I were some sort of vile thing. I swatted his hand away angrily.

"Whatever it is, I don't want to do it with _you_ either!" I snorted and turned away. Hiei stood up, ready to say something else, but suddenly there was this banging outside the hall. Botan stood up quickly, ready to break the tension that'd just escalated.

"I'll get it!" she cried.

Several moments later, the small room became even smaller as Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Yukina bustled inside. The addition of three people made me start to feel claustrophobic, and I squirmed uncomfortably, my breathing becoming a little more shallow.

"You guys ok? Botan told us what happened and we would've come sooner if it weren't for cupid over here." Yusuke stabbed a thumb at Kuwabara.

"Shut up Urameshi!" Kuwabara said heatedly, "And there's nothing wrong with what Yukina and I share! She and I were meant to be together, right love? Yukina?" But she'd already crossed the room over to me. Kuwabara deflated and I noted with dull humor that Hiei was grinning smugly: looks like Hiei had competition though.

"After we heard, we tried to come straight away. Are you hurt anywhere?" She gasped softly when she noticed my bandaged hand and ankle, "Hold on, maybe I can help."

I bit my lip when she began to apply pressure.

"I can feel that it's broken, but it's not too bad. I can try setting it so you don't need a cast..." She said kindly.

I gasped when I felt some of the pain was washed over with a soothing warmth. Within moments, the throbbing pain was swept away. She lifted her hands and I gaped at her in amazement.

"You're incredible Yukina! I don't even feel it."

She smiled, "I'm glad."

I turned to Kurama and Hiei then and bowed my head, "Kurama, Hiei: thanks for saving me last night. Without you guys, I would've been a goner." I grinned sheepishly. Kurama nodded pleasantly with a soft smile while Hiei hn'd.

"Ahem," Koenma, apparently annoyed, said, "Well as I was saying before I was interrupted by Yusuke _again_ (Yusuke began to whistle tunelessly, clearly ignoring him) I think it would be a good idea to have you two bonded even though the idea isn't really getting the popular vote." he paused.

We were both about to say something, but Yusuke said, "Hold up!" and he placed his hand under his chin and his face scrunched up into something that made him look as if he were in deep thought. There was a heavy pause and then he spoke carefully, as if choosing his words with caution.

"How would they go to the bathroom?"

My face felt like it was on fire and I could see Yukina's face taking on a shade of red too. What exactly was this spirit bond thing?

Hiei looked like he was ready to punch the light's out of Yusuke but Botan was attacking him already, Kuwabara cracking up beside him. Hiei settled for him instead and Kuwabara's yelp startled me into a tiny giggle. Hiei spun on me, his eyes glowing like hot coals and I tried to thin my lips out, but it was too late. He abandoned Kuwabara and stared me down.

"Realize that he's talking about us and how this isn't a game. Don't be an idiot!" I looked down while he turned to Koenma.

"Koenma, this is a ridiculous plan and it won't solve anything!"

Koenma tried to keep a straight face when responding, "I never said I thought it would solve anything, but if it will help then I'll surely do it. Kurama, if you please,"

Kurama smirked, "Right."

I blinked and almost jumped out of my skin because Kurama was suddenly standing beside us; he grabbed Hiei's shoulders, gripping them tightly, even with his wrapped arm.

Hiei tried to squirm out of his grasp but Kurama's hold was firm. He sighed.

"You might as well make this a little easier on yourself, Hiei, and stop resisting. But I must admit, I find it intriguing how much power I have over you. "

Hiei growled, "Kurama, you better release me this instant before I-" Kurama cut him off.

"Anytime would be welcomed Koenma."

"I know, I know. I just have to properly prepare the bond first." Koenma placed his hands in front of him, each palm facing the other and I could only stare in alarm as his hands gathered a glow around them and it was as if a golden snake had suddenly slithered from the palm of his hands and became coiled, threading themselves together. Although his hands lose their shine, the thread remained golden and it hummed silently with power. When Koenma began walking towards us, I scooted back until I hit the wall.

"Will it hurt?" I whispered.

"It shouldn't really. Don't be scared, it'll be fine. Now stick out your arm," I did, but very hesitantly. Koenma's hands were about a foot away when the cord unexpectedly shot onto my wrist and I yelped. It burned for a moment as if it had been cast into a river of ice, and then it was locked around my arm and I looked at it with astonishment.

Hiei was still struggling and Koenma frowned.

"Just hold still for a second, Hiei! I promise you two won't have to go to the bathroom together if that's what you're worried about!"

"Don't be ridiculous, I- uhn!" The other end of the bond had lunged out at Hiei like a snake attacking its prey making Hiei flinch slightly.

"It would have hurt less if you hadn't been struggling so badly." Koenma said it casually, but by this point, I had a fleeting suspicion that Koenma was a little scared of Hiei, who was now looking to try and kill him off by glaring daggers at him, his eyes as sharp as razors.

Then the bond was fading away. In a few seconds, it wasn't there. I glanced up nervously.

"Um, was that supposed to happen?"

Koenma nodded, "Yes, it worked. But it will only shine when either of you pull past its length. It'll respond when two can't venture any further from each other."

Kurama's grip on Hiei slackened and Hiei ripped away from him.

"How far can we go?" he growled.

"I'm not sure, but I do know that it's a bit of a distance to the point where you can be in different rooms."

I avoided Hiei's gaze and, blushing, asked, "Koenma, how will I get dressed and stuff?"

Koenma scratched his head, "Well it should be able to pass through the majority of things except when it's pulled to hard, but, ah ha, I've kind of just invented this and the only active test I've done was on Yusuke so..."

"Wait, so you don't even know how it works?" I said with wide eyes.

"Don't worry, it'll probably be fine." he paused, "... probably."

Botan said, "But Koenma sir-" Koenma clapped his hands briskly.

"I almost forgot! Hiei do you have it?"

Growling, Hiei dug into his pocket and thrust out his hand to me. I held out my hands questioningly and he opened his. A plain silver ring with a small pearly orb at the top -nothing special- landed softly into my palms. I carefully examined it. It was lovely- although simple and plain, there was a certain prettiness about it. I looked at Hiei with awe.

"Wow... thank you Hiei."

"I didn't get it for you, idiot. Koenma ordered me."

"Oh." the warmth that had entered my chest was extinguished. Koenma held his hand out.

"May I see it?"

I gave it to him and watched as he touched it with his mouth. His lips moved and he began speaking, but I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. It must have been some sort of incantation. Then the ring began to glow and I gasped; I blinked and it was a normal ring again. He handed it back to me and I accepted it gingerly. It felt warm.

"What did you do to it?"

"I asked Hiei to fetch an item- it could've been anything: a necklace, bracelet, scarf, anything that could be easily kept at all times- for you to have. I charmed it so by wearing it, you'll be able to sense demon essences. I think it should come in handy. "

This small trinket, so simple and tiny, could do that? I slipped it onto my finger. I didn't feel any different.

Koenma said, "Well, I've intruded long enough. I'll be going now. Botan and Kurama: come with me if you please. I'd like to discuss something."

Hiei said, "Hold on Koenma, I won't let you go until you remove this damn thing!" Koenma rushed out the door crying "Bye!" deaf to Hiei's threats. There was a flare and suddenly he was gone. I gaped like a fish.

Kurama laughed, "Koenma is just showing off. Well, shall we go?"

Botan sighed comically, "What are we going to do with him. But, yes, let's go." She turned to me, "It'll all work out dear! And thanks for keeping her safe Hiei."

It was funny because somewhere in the back of my mind, I vaguely remember the fact that it's _me_ that's supposed to be keeping Hiei safe and out of trouble.

Hiei scowled, "It's not like I chose to do this. I'm only doing it because I have no choice." Botan frowned.

"Well, we'll be on our way. Hey Yusuke, if you stay here please don't give them too much trouble."

Yusuke yawned, "Don't worry Botan. We weren't planning on a long visit. I told Keiko that something had happened and she wanted to make sure you guys were ok, but she had to work at the shop today so she couldn't come herself. So, I'll be taking off now. We'll see you later." Yusuke left.

_And he'd just gotten here too,_ I thought. Yukina looked at me from her perch by my legs.

"I should be going too. It should be fine to walk and move, but don't overdo it okay? Call me anytime if you need help with any pain and I'll see what I can do." Yukina smiled.

"Thanks Yukina. I'll see you soon." She bowed politely and got up to leave. Kuwabara picked himself up.

"Well if Yukina's leaving, I'm going too!" Yukina giggled and looked at me, her red eyes twinkling... _Red eyes._

"He's quite a character, isn't he?" She bowed to Hiei and he even gave her a small, soft smile. His face smoothed out, giving it an almost gentle look.

"Be careful." The kindness in his voice left me numb with shock. But as soon as Yukina had nodded and gone out the room with Kuwabara, Hiei's smooth expression disappeared._ Thump._ I clutched at my heart.

Then there was Hiei and I left and an awkward silence ensued.

"Hiei..." I began, desperate to release some of the tension in the air, "I'm really sorry about what happened last night. Not just the whole fighting with Tatsuya bit, but the dumb fight when you left. I don't even remember what we were fighting about."

"Yeah, that's true." I blinked, surprised he was even responding to me, let alone agreeing.

"Maybe this bond thing isn't so bad." I offered, "Maybe if we spend more time together like this, we could actually be friends or something..." I trailed off.

Hiei snorted, "Please, I don't need you to be my friend. Unfortunately, I can't leave, even if I wanted to. Just stay out of my way and we'll be good enough 'friends.'" He stalked out of the room without another word.

I sat on my bed, letting his cold words sink in. I knew he didn't like me, but I didn't think that he _hated_ me. It stung deeply. I know we didn't get along and we weren't really compatible, but was my idea so ridiculous?

I guess friendship between us was just a fantasy idea. I wasn't angry as I would normally be, only sad. I wonder how everyone else did it. _They _seemed to be his friends... and Yukina was obviously special. _Thump. _I took a deep breath.

I stared at the ring he'd gotten me. Well, technically not for _me_, in a way. I sighed. Was there really no hope for us to get along even a little bit?

~.~.~.~.~.

Kurama entered his office, followed by Botan and Kurama. As soon as they had all entered and the door had slid shut behind them, there was a poof and Koenma suddenly reappeared in his original form, baby fat and all. He floated to his chair and landed in it heartily. He tapped his shoulder with a fist as if after a hard day's work.

"Being in that older form really tired me out!"

Botan crossed her arms, "Honestly Koenma, if it tires you out so much, then why don't you just appear in your normal form? I don't see why you have to continue to look like that in front of Ren since we've basically told her all there is to know. Or at least the general gist of it all."

He looked at her, appalled, "I do that because I look cool and handsome Botan! Who would take me seriously in this form? Like Yusuke when we first met, and then Kuwabara..."

Botan's eye twitched and Kurama chuckled, "Anyways Koenma, you wanted to speak with us?"

Koenma settled into his seat, now looking troubled; the other two immediately noticed the change in demeanor and the light humor in the air evaporated.

"As much as either of you might disagree, and I know I made a promise, but," he sighed, "I confess that I've decided to erase Ren's memories at the end of this ordeal. I've already prepped the paperwork- all that's left is the time."

Surprise ignited Botan's face and she spoke urgently, "But Koenma! You can't! That's just not right, especially after specifically telling her that you wouldn't. The whole reason that Ren's even taking care of Hiei for us is because you agreed you wouldn't touch her memory."

Koenma listened with a solemn face, "I know that, Botan and I feel horrible about it, but I can't have so many humans running around with knowledge of our world. You might protest that many other humans know, but they all have special circumstances. Ren is just a common case of a common human unnecessarily stumbling into our world. I wouldn't do it without reason."

"But sir, you'd be practically using her!" Botan insisted although she cared less to admit that his words rang true. Kurama held out his arm and Botan stopped talking, looking down at the floor.

Kurama said, I won't lie and say I agree with this approach, but I'm putting faith in your judgment."

Kurama squealed like a child, throwing up a random pile of papers regardless of the red stamp that definitely said 'Alphabetical Order,' "You're not making this any easier!"

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya limped through the dark corridors, hissing and cursing every time his arm twitched, feeling the thin scabbing on his arm split, allowing fresh rivulets of blood to flow over the dry patches.

He hissed under his breath, "Damn that Kurama for making a fool out of me. And I can't believe Hiei is still alive! He was able to make off with my target no less...damn it!"

Coming to the enormous doors that led to Asami, he rapped on it twice. A few clicks later, and the door squealed open. He walked in quickly, hearing the doors slam firmly behind him.

As always, Asami was perched on her throne of black marble and she stared as Tatsuya slowly made his way forward. He wasn't surprised to see the familiar form that was Minoru standing to the side. Flinching slightly from pain, he kneeled and avoided eye contact.

She spoke with distaste, "You're dripping on my floors."

Tatsuya said, "I'm sorry Lady Asami, but I must inform you of how my mission failed," he glanced at Minoru, "and I also report that the fire demon, Hiei, still lives."

Growling, Minoru attempted to step forward but halted when Asami lightly cleared her throat. Minoru glowered fiercely at Tatsuya.

"That can't be, I made sure to drain all of his youkai and ki." he looked earnestly up at Asami who's expression remained blank, "I swear it my Lady! I saw him dying and he'd lost too much energy to even _attempt_ to heal-" Asami silenced him with a calm, but icy glance.

Her voice echoed with a well-hidden anger that the both males immediately took hint of, "Did you actually see the dead body?"

"I-"

"Minoru, I asked you a simple question." her words were gentle, but they pierced Minoru like razor-sharp needles.

"No, my Lady."

Asami flicked her hand and Minoru was thrown away like a rag doll. There was a sickening thud as Minoru collided with a wall. Tatsuya kept his gaze trained down.

"Leave. I don't feel like looking at you anymore at the moment." Asami said cooly, still hiding a punishing anger. Tatsuya heard Minoru slowly scuttle off, grimacing when he heard the opening and closing of the door. He'd sensed pure misery; he even dared to say he felt a bit sorry for him, but then he was suddenly very aware that he and Asami were alone.

"And you?" she asked coldly, "have you anything more to say?"

Tatsuya finally looked up and had to resist cringing at the two orbs of ice that were staring at him, "I have no excuse my Lady, I've failed." He waited for Asami's wrath, but she simply sat in a heavy and thoughtful silence. Her eyes flickered.

"Stop kneeling like a dog, Tatsuya. I still have use of you, but heed my warning," her hair swirled about her in an absent wind, "I will not tolerate a second failure." She lifted her hand in an elegant and graceful movement.

Tatsuya rose and took it, pecking it. "I will see to it, my Lady. It won't happen again."

"Actually, I've been thinking this over and your failure can be well played upon. They'll have assumed you've become weak with your wounds. However," she gently took his bad arm into her hands, ignoring the red flow and traced her hands over the wound. As her fingers moved, closed skin followed and eventually the whole cut was healed , only a crooked white scar left behind. He withdrew his arm, flexing his hand. There was no pain and the blood was only a memory of the injury ever being there.

He bowed, "Thank you, my Lady."

"I'll be assigning you a new mission, one I think you might actually be capable of achieving."

"Of course."

"From what you've told me, the girl confirms my suspicions. There must be something about her that Koenma is trying to protect."

Tatsuya frowned, "But when I attacked her. I sensed no spirit energy whatsoever."

"No matter. There must be something about her and I'm determined to find out what. Tatsuya," she stared into his eyes, "You will find this girl again, but do not move to kill. Instead, you will follow and examine her but discreetly. She might have use for me."

"Very well."

"Good. Now get to it. And remember: another failure will not be tolerated. Even for you. I didn't raise you only to kill you." With that, she waved her hand and Tatsuya knew he was dismissed.

Bowing, he turned and made his way to the door. Once out, he looked around. Minoru was nowhere in sight and he trudged off.

"Damn that Asami," he muttered, "But for now, there's nothing I can do. I'll just have to keep a close eye on this girl. They'd better watch out now."

~.~.~.~.~.

I blinked groggily, sitting up. I was just getting my bearings when a voice surprised me.

"It's about time. Hurry up," I stared at Hiei in a sleepy daze as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Tch," and he left. As the seconds ticked by, I shook my head and peered at the clock on my bedside table and my eyes flew open. It was that late already?

I flung the covers off and swung my legs around- I had to hurry if I was going to make breakfast! Without thinking, I stood up and in sudden alarm, I remembered my ankle, but it was too late.

I shut my eyes, waiting for the pain as my entire weight came to rest on my feet. But it never came. Baffled, I sat back down on my bed and carefully unwrapped my bandages.

I looked at it in shock: the swelling was almost gone and it looked...normal. The deep cut looked like it was already closing up. I stood up again, slowly. I took a cautious step forward, testing it and when I didn't feel anything wrong, I grew bolder. I took several more steps, weighing more on my injured foot. On about the fifth step, it began to throb slightly and I could feel the thin skin beginning to pull, threatening to re-open so I took the weight off of it, but I was elated. As long as I didn't overdo it, it should be fine to walk normally. Yukina had worked wonders!

I limped lightly towards my dresser and pulled my uniform on quickly. It was kind of weird performing such a normal routine, like getting dressed to go to school. It was so _ordinary_ compared to all else that had happened over the weekend. I glanced at the new ring on my finger and that at the empty door frame. Hiei's words from yesterday echoed in my head.

_Just stay out of my way._

I sighed: I really shouldn't have been letting it bother me as much as it was, but against my better judgment, it was. I sighed again. I'd been feeling a bit on edge lately. I needed to recover, maybe take a long bath later on... that sounded nice. The idea lifted my spirits.

I grabbed the ribbon- it felt as smooth as water against my fingers- and pulled my hair up, expertly tying it up. Feeling a bit happier, I smiled to myself and turned to go and make breakfast.

I spotted Hiei leaning against the wall, eyes closed, and I wandered past him silently. I went straight to the fridge- we had several spare eggs and leftover rice. I guess I could make sweet tamagoyaki (1) and onigiri (2) if we had any seaweed left. It was a small breakfast, but it'd have to do.

Pullling the ingredients out, I turned and almost dropped them when I realized that Hiei was standing a few feet away, just watching me. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything and went on to prepare our food. I had to admit that it was a little nice cooking for two again- before Hiei, I'd never done it as much since I was usually by myself.

"Stop that!" his outburst startled me and I looked at him, confused.

"What are you talking about?" my eyes were wide and he avoided them.

"Just stop being so... _happy_. I can sense it through the damn bond. It's annoying."

_Is it wrong to feel happy? _ was what I was itching to say, but instead I said, "Oh, I didn't know... sorry?" We could sense each other's feelings through the bond? _Ah! _That must've been why I'd been feeling so on edge this morning...because it was the way Hiei had been feeling? It made a little sense.

Concentrating, I could feel a thin conscious next to mine, a strange entity, alien to me. I must have been feeling ill all morning. The edginess increased and I was glad to know that it wasn't me this time. But it was a strange feeling, knowing that what you were feeling might not be what _you're _feeling. Hesitantly, I tried to quell my mood so Hiei might be able to relax a bit. What a moody guy... who doesn't like to feel happy?

~.~.~.~.~.

I finished filing away all the dishes. Earlier, it had surprised me when Hiei had actually come back to sit with me. I'd stared at him in a shocked stupor, a piece of tamagoyaki slipping from my chopsticks. Sensing my surprise, he glanced at me sharply.

"What?" he snapped. Dumbly, I shook my head.

"N-nothing. But," I said, "What's with the sudden change?" he looked away and I didn't bother pushing it; we proceeded to eat in silence.

As strange as it sounds, it was very interesting to watch Hiei eat. I'd never seen him do it before, or at least when I wasn't looking. Maybe this was a sign that he was becoming more comfortable with me. Maybe.

_Wait... now that I think about it, he wasn't able to leave early or avoid me. _I recalled the issues of the bond that Koenma had explained earlier and it all made sense now. He was physically shackled to me because the bond would have stopped him, if it really worked like Koenma had said.

"Hiei, we should go now." I called.

"About time," he muttered and I twitched, I didn't see him trying to help me any. Without another word, I grabbed my new bag and walked straight to the door.

~.~.~.~.~.

For most of the trip to school, I ignored Hiei and we walked in aggravated silence although Hiei was probably ok with that. At one point I tried thinking of a ton of ridiculous happy-go-lucky things just to annoy him and I'm betting on that fact that it worked because I could feel the dark waves flwoeing back. The feeling was mutual.

Then something flickered past me and I cried out, flinging myself behind Hiei, forgetting my anger. Hiei growled.

"What's the problem?"

I pointed shakily at the small purple insect flying towards us. Hiei tensed in front of me.

"That's an ES!" Then before I could stop him, he'd reached out and swatted it to the ground, smashking it with his foot. I didn't miss his flinch. I approached cautiously.

"Are you ok? Wasn't that the same kind of bug that almost killed you?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it didn't take enough energy to cause any real harm. Let's go," he said and turned to leave. but I couldn't move.

Although I'd seen it before, it'd been different this time. It seemed uglier and more dangerous. For the second it'd been in contact with Hiei's skin, I'd actually _seen_ the bug stealing his energy. It was one of the scariest things I'd ever seen.

I glanced at the ring on my finger - it definitely worked.

Hiei stopped to look at me, "We're lucky it didn't multiply. come on, we have to get to school before any more show up."

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya stared out over the distance, listening and waiting. The first school bell was ringing and he watched as the remaining students scurried to make it to their classes. With interest, he spotted Hiei and the girl, named Ren, which he'd discovered from the school bag she must've dropped while running away from Minoru. His eyes lingered on her.

"Tatsuya, why are you just standing there? Shouldn't you be getting ready?" An impatient voice snapped at him.

Smiling pleasantly, Tatsuya said, "Hey Kuro. Where's Shiro?"

Kuro yawned, "Yeah, yeah she's coming." facing him, it was hard to believe that this child-like boy must've been 3 times Tatsuya's age. He was clothed in black jingled with an assortment of metal bracelets. His eyes were terrifying, the irises pure black orbs. His hair was silvery and spiky. His enormous scythe was strapped on his back. One of his more odd features was the red collar around his neck, so tight that it looked like a ring of his own skin.

Tatsuya peered over at Kuro's shoulder and watched as a small girl seemed to dissolve from the shadows. Shiro's skin was as pale as her white dress. A small orb hung from her neck and her deteriorating teddy bear was safely tucked under her arm. Some of its stuffing was falling from a tear on its belly. She peeked at Tatsuya from underneath her long pink lashes, her eyes shimmering a spectrum of colors. Staring at Tatsuya, her eyes were light pink, but when she turned towards Kuro they shifted into a light blue. She had a small mouth and when she spoke, it was a light, quiet whisper. Her hair, bizarrely enough, was pink like her lashes.

The two, though twins, looked nothing alike and were completely different. Shiro shifted closer to her brother and grasped at his arm.

"I'm here," she murmured. Kuro huffed.

"About time!" he shouted, but she only cuddled closer to him.

Tatsuya cleared his throat, "We have work to do. Didn't I tell you the call the others?"

Kuro shrugged, "Nah, I told Shiro to do it." Shiro didn't bat an eye and only peered at Tatsuya , her eyes like the sky on a hot day.

"Aya and Itsu couldn't make it because they were busy, but I think Bu is coming." she mumbled.

Tatsuya glanced at Kuro with a raised eyebrow, "Itsu and Bu?"

Kuro shrugged, "Itsuki and Manabu, I guess."

"Did you call?" The trio looked towards the western side of the building. A massive figure covered in a sheet stalked over.

With a swipe of a bulky hand, the sheet was pulled off. The demon, twice Tatsuya's size, stalked up to them. His skin was leathery and purple and he had talons as sharp as arrow points. His eyes were small and beady like a fish and his teeth were filed like shark's teeth, jagged and jammed. On one wrist, there was a strap-on that was made up of strong looking material and slung over his shoulder was an enormous gourd that sloshed noisily as he walked. Like Kuro, there was a red ring around his neck.

"Manabu," Tatsuya acknowledged him with a nod. Kuro muttered a 'hey' but Shiro didn't say anything at all.

Tatsuya continued once Manabu had joined their circle, "Those other two need to be more careful, especially since when they're disobeying Asami's orders. They both have her mark too." Kuro unconsciously fingered the red collar on his neck, but said nothing.

"Anyways," he continued, "You our mission. We're simply to test them, see what they're capable of. I have my own mission, so I'll leave it to you to decide your course of action. Now, if you'll excuse me," Tatsuya turned and disappeared through the rood door.

Kuro growled, "Damn that human. He acts like he can order us around because he's Asami's second-in-command, but I'd like to see him try. The only reason I'm sticking around is because of this collar! This is a waste of time... let's go Shiro."

"And the job?" Manabu asked. But Kuro had already disappeared in the shadows, and Shiro was eager to follow, but before she left, she turned a dark pair of red eyes on him. Manabu flinched.

"You'll handle it Bu. You should be able to do that much." She said softly and she vanished too.

Manabu let out a few nervous chuckles. Although Kuro had the temper and mouth, Shiro was definitely something much more to fear then she let on. He grinned to himself.

"Fine. This should be entertaining anyways."

~.~.~.~.~.

To my relief, we actually weren't late- the teacher wasn't even in the room yet when we got there. Hiei called me an idiot. Luckily, we hadn't run into anymore ES, but our eyes were peeled. I could feel Hiei on high alert.

The door opened and the room was filled with the sounds of scraping chairs. The teacher walked to the front and the class hushed. He muttered a good morning and spent a second rummaging around his desk before standing up to face us.

"Students, I'm happy to announce that we already have another classmate joining us. Mr. Ryuu? Mind introducing yourself?" We all glanced at the door, not realizing someone had come in.

A boy stepped up and all at once, a feeling of dread claimed me. The boy skimmed over the class and I almost stopped breathing when his eyes seemed to trail on mine a second longer than everyone else's. He cleared his throat.

"My name is Ryuu and I hope we can get along in the future." he smiled charmingly and a gasp swept across the room, mostly from the girls. He was incredibly handsome and I could hear intense whispering spread like wildfire. He had shiny black hair and bewitching blue eyes. But I didn't hear a word. I couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety that had taken hold . Something was very wrong.

I felt something prick at the back of my mind because Hiei, who probably could care less about the new guy, must've sensed my distress. I beat it down, trying to calm now. What could I possibly be anxious of? I didn't even know the guy.

"Well Ryuu. You may take any seat you'd like. There's one by Mr. Seiji or one by Ms. Hashibami." _What?_ Glancing up, I just realized the seat next to me was empty.

_Take the other, the other!_ I pleaded in my head, but I knew it was futile as soon as I heard the words leaving his mouth.

"I'll take the one by here, thanks."

_Crap._

I heard his chair scrape the floor and I forced myself to look at him, otherwise risk him thinking I was rude. I plastered a fake smile to my face when he stuck a hand out to me. I took it; my hand was awfully small in his big one.

"I'm Ryuu," he said to me, smiling. I glanced at Hiei, who was having no trouble acting completely oblivious to the whole situation.

"I'm Ren. It's nice to meet you." I withdrew my hand as casually as possible. For some reason, I heard the whispering of the girl's intensify.

"A pleasure."

I nodded and looked away, hoping he'd take the hint and stop talking to me. I sighed in relief when the lesson started.

~.~.~.~.~.

The day passed by fairly quickly, and the awful premonition I'd felt faded gradually. There really seemed to be nothing wrong with Ryuu. At lunch, all the girls surrounded him and I was able to have lunch with Hiei in peace (or at least as "peaceful" as it could be). Wanting to get away from all the chaos, I'd dragged him to the rood and surprised him with a sweet tamagoyaki bento since I figured he didn't think about his own lunch. I'd sensed his satisfaction through the bond. It only get messy when he refused to eat the miso soup, but I was successfully able to discover why without getting sprayed on this time: apparently he didn't like salty thing. I mentally took note of that.

When the bell rang for dismissal, all Ryuu said was a friendly good-bye and left without another word to anyone else. Content, I tapped Hiei's shoulders.

"Ready to go?" I asked, but was surprised when he glanced at me with a serious look.

"Not yet."

"What? Why not?" He never answered me, but I couldn't just leave without him, so I stayed seated. This silence was awfully un-Hiei like. He'd never seemed like a patient person to me. But after a while, as students left one after the other, Hiei finally got up and beckoned me over.

"Follow me." he headed for the doors and I silently followed him out and down the halls.

"What are we doing?" I asked him, unable to hold in my curiosity.

"See for yourself," he rummaged his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. Taking it, I attempted to read it while we were walking to who knows where. I read out loud:

" ' Hiei I know your secret. Come out to the roof after everyone leave. Don't bring anyone except the human girl, or else.' " I didn't have to ask to know that the human girl bit meant me.

"Or else what?" I frowned.

"Who cares. I found it on the desk and I'm not about to back down from a challenge."

"But wait, shouldn't we discuss this first?" I reached out to stop him, but before either of us could react , an intense shock burned my hand and I immediately let go. I stared at my hand in surprise, but it looked perfectly fine. I looked at Hiei, who apparently hadn't expected that either.

"What did you just do?" he said harshly. I flinched.

"I- I don't know! All I did was touch you."

"Put your arm out."

"What?"

"Just do it."

I slowly put my arm out as he'd commanded and watched as Hiei reached out. As soon as he took hold of my wrist, there was the same shock and I gasped in pain, yanking it back. He grunted as he released me. Panicked, I held my slightly numb wrist.

"What's going on?" I choked and he clenched his fist, snarling.

"This is just perfect! Koenma placed this damn bond on us and not only can we not separate, but we can't even stand simple contact."

Hiei looked like he was ready to hurt something, which I didn't doubt. But he simply spun back around and continued walking, leaving me with no choice but to follow him.

"Wait, where are we going?" I had to keep up with him.

"To the roof, where else." he snapped.

"I thought we just went over this! This is dangerous! We should go look for someone who can actually fight." I argued. But it was the wrong thing to say. I almost ran into him, he stopped so fast. He turned an evil eye on me.

"Nobody asked you, and I _can_ fight." His anger shut me up. With a pang and a mental slap, I realized I'd just made it much worse.

Me and my stupid mouth.

~.~.~.~.~.

I followed Hiei out onto the roof, my heart in my mouth. I was scared out of my mind. The person who'd called Hiei and I out here could only have been the people after us. I know Hiei had his pride as a demon and all, but I'd feel much better if I knew we could defend ourselves.

Hiei stepped out into the open and I turned so we were back to back. _This is crazy_. Several moments of heart thumping silence passed and I about jumped out of my skin when a voice hissed.

"Welcome. I see you've followed my request."

I pressed closer to Hiei, and I could feel him looking around. Then the air around us suddenly became warm and something popped.

"Move!" the next thing I knew, I was being pushed forward by Hiei, followed by a great shock. Although some of my body had lost feeling, my mind was in high gear. I scrambled up.

"Over here." the voice came from behind us.

We whirled around and I froze in terror.

A huge purple monster towered over us, at least triple our size. Leathery skin and talons and all. His beady eyes gazed at us with a sort of sick humor. In his hand, there was an opened gourd which he sloshed as he approached us. Even from here I could easily smell the gasoline. Hiei stepped in front of me.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a demon. Manabu was it? You look pretty ugly without that sheet to cover you." I looked at Hiei in horror. Why was he so compelled to egg it on?

The demon chuckled, "Yes, that's right. But look at yourself Hiei- once a great demon, now as weak as a worthless human. What can be more pathetic that that?" Hiei growled menacingly.

"Yes, I am Manabu, also a great fire demon, but my fire's different than yours, Hiei. I can't use techniques like your Darkness Flame that is so infamous in our world, but I've developed a deadly technique of my own!" he swung the gourd to his mouth and I watched, disgusted, as several gallons of gas was chugged. Hiei's eyes widened and he turned to me.

"Run fool!" I didn't waste any time. I turned and fled, but was violently shocked once again when I felt Hiei tug me sideways. I flew towards him, when a gust of fire suddenly blasted past us. I looked up in time to see that Manabu had actually been _spewing it _from his _ mouth._

I got up next to Hiei, forcing the pain and terror away. That most recent fall had been relatively hard and my ankle was beginning to bother me.

"You see, using the acids from my stomach. I can manipulate the gasoline I swallow to throw up a deadly flame that can melt the skin from your bones if it so much as touches you." That sounded pleasant.

I paled when I realized Manabu was swinging his gourd back up to his mouth. Hiei roughly grabbed my sleeve, avoiding skin contact.

"Listen, keep stepping to the side to avoid his blast. The oaf doesn't seem to have noticed that his blasts are so powerful that he can only shoot in one direction at a time. The only way to survive this is to reach the point where he won't be able to reach us." he pointed, "There underneath him. It'll be close, so we'll have to run." I nodded numbly.

Hiei looked at me and I was flabbergasted to find humor in his eyes. And what was more amazing was when he actually cracked a smile at me.

"I'm blaming you if we die through this."

It was a pretty bad joke considering the situation and my level of terror, but for some reason it made me find a small courage inside myself that hadn't been there before. Hiei's confidence was radiating throughout his mind, invading my own. I managed a tiny smile.

"Well, I don't really feel like dying." I said. He snorted, but his eyes flashed to Manabu and he bared his teeth.

"Go!" I didn't even look to see if I was diving in the right direction, but luck was on my side because the fact that I was still alive told me I chose correctly. But then I realized the flame was ebbing away. I was losing time just sitting here. Scraping my knees, I scrambled up and sprinted towards him. The smell of gasoline made me nauseated but the threat of death was enough to get me through it. Manabu spotted me and raised the gourd to his lips once more and then there was the awful smell of fire and fuel.

And then he wasn't there anymore as I felt something yank my wrist harshly and I landed painfully on my side. And just in time too.

Sweat coated my face as Manabu's flames swept past me. I crawled out and kept running. That was too close for comfort. But what had made me fall? Then I noticed that golden light on my wrist and the wire stretching from it; my eyes widened. _The bond!_ But because it had lit up, that meant that Hiei and I had reached our limit apart.

The air was suddenly filled with the violent screech of tearing metal and I screamed when I felt flying pieces of debris soar over me. But it couldn't have only been debris because I realized that I was getting wet too.

Manabu raised a broken water pipe over his head and hurled it at Hiei who was easily able to dodge it, but ended up against the edge of the roof, the golden thread alight on his arm as well. There were bleeding gashes on his cheek and chest. Manabu began to stalk towards him, talons swinging, mouth dripping, but Hiei couldn't escape this time. Not with the bond keeping stopping him and no ground for him to run.

_Hiei!_ I pushed myself up and grabbed the first piece of debris I could find. It was a piece of pipe a few feet long and although the tip was splintered in half, it glistened sharply. I staggered under the weight, but gripped it tightly. I had no time to think thing through. It was do or don't. I charged as best as I could, wielding the sharp point out.

Just a Manabu was about to spit another stream of deadly flame, I stabbed the shard into his calf and pulled it out just as fast. There was a moment when he did nothing, but then he was wailing an inhuman screech, and the unused gas was vomited from his mouth. He staggered backwards and I had to tumble forward to avoid him. But then on a sudden spasm of rage, Manabu swung out his hand and I ducked but as Hiei was trying to do the same, he lost his balance and I watched in horror as he slid off the edge.

"Hiei!" I screamed and slid on the gasoline, falling on my stomach, one hand still on the pipe and I reached out blindly. Then to my utter shock, literally, I felt a stream of electricity spread from my finger tips through my whole body.

It was a horrible, head-splitting pain- from the shock and the weight. And it didn't stop. My mind screamed at me to let go, but I couldn't because when I looked down, there was Hiei, dangling. If I let go now, it would be all over for him and me.

"H-hold on Hiei." I barely choked out.

"Don't you dare drop me." he yelled at me.

As the pain wracked my body, I was still manage to stay conscious of the fact that Manabu was getting back up and limping towards us. I couldn't do anything: if I let Hiei go, he'd go down, pulling me with him and if I didn't, Manabu was just going to get us anyways. He roared and lunged for us, but time flow seemed to become significantly slower.

_No...no... We can't just die like this! It can't just end! _A flame erupted in my stomach, but it wasn't painful. It was warm and flickered with power. The heat was spreading through me and I felt a new kind of strength. A vague sense of familiarity settled over me as if I'd experienced the feeling before...

Manabu was right there. I thrust the pipe upwards with all of my strength.

_Splurt!_

Eyes wide, Manabu and I both stared at the crude object protruding from his heck. Red liquid, as thick as oil, oozed from it, but the smell was of iron and it overwhelmed me. Blood.

Manabu was already dead; dead weight, he fell on his side.

"Ren!" in a daze, I blinked down at Hiei through a mist of semi-conscious pain.

_What...?_

"Ren, don't even think about passing out now of all times!" There it was again... my name...

"Sorry... I can't- anymore," as much as I tried to hold on, the feeling of strength was quickly slipping away. I ached all over, my arm, now coated in gas and blood, felt like it was about to be torn off, electric shocks constantly coursing through my body. My grasp on Hiei's hand was slipping-

"Ren hold on!" that wasn't Hiei... I faintly looked sideways. Two figures were sprinting towards us. Through my mist, I could see blue and red swinging wildly. I watched them until they were a mere feet away, but that was it for me. My fingers lost their grip and my body fell limp.

"Ren!"

I blacked out.

~.~.~.~.~.

I woke up to the smell of pine, gas, and blood.

...?

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, immediately regretting it. My body protested in agony and I couldn't feel my arm. Looking around, I noticed I was in some sort of clearing surrounded by forest.

"Ren, you shouldn't push it. You got pretty bruised up." said Hiei.

Startled, I whipped my head around only to find him (shirtless, a small voice in my head shrieked at me)lounging against a tree, Kurama kneeling by his side.

"He's right you know. Oh Ren, you almost gave me a heart attack- you were covered in all that blood-" sniffed Botan from my other side. My heart wrenched when I saw small tears in her eyes.

"Botan! Are you ok?" I immediately said. She looked as if she wanted to slap me and I cringed.

"Am I ok? Goodness, look at _yourself!_ Just what were you _thinking?_" she demanded. I couldn't answer her and felt my face flush, suddenly aware of my aching body.

"Well, I guess I wasn't really thinking." I let a few chuckles escape, all the while thinking how she should have been confronting Hiei about this. I, after all, really hadn't want to go in the first place. Botan looked extremely aggravated.

"You sound exactly like Yusuke! This is nothing to laugh about!" she towered over me.

"You're right," I squeaked, "I'm sorry!"

"I'm astounded Ren. You cower from Botan, but you're able to bring down a demon thrice your size? My," chuckled Kurama, who looked away when Botan shot a glare.

I looked at Hiei, trying not to feel awkward, "What about you Hiei? Are you ok?" he glared at me, like always, but I was taken aback because it wasn't the glare I was used to. It was angry but it wasn't filled with his usual loathing and annoyance, but something like-

"Don't mind me, I didn't get hurt that bad. You should be focusing on how lucky you were that you weren't killed yourself, you fool." he said.

"Yeah, you're right I guess." I was a bit disappointed though. I was just kind of, sort of, expecting at least a tiny thank you. Just a small one. And he even went so far as to call me a fool. Again.

"Hiei, if anything, you should be grateful. I don't know how she did it, but Ren saved your life and even killed Manabu," Kurama looked at me, his eyes glowing, "We found you in quite a state though. Botan nearly died seeing you drenched in blood- only later did we realize it wasn't yours. It's a bit funny: only when we were seconds away did you finally choose to lose consciousness and drop Hiei. But at least you did hold on till then. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to make it." Kurama laughed with good humor while both Hiei and Botan glared at him. I giggled.

"It was pretty lucky, wasn't it?" I managed a small smile.

Botan sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "I think this was a little too close for comfort."

"You're probably right about that, " I grinned. I really had no idea why I felt so light-hearted. The sane part of me said that I should be freaking out, probably crying, or even begging Koenma to erase my memories and make it seem like none of this ever happened, but that just wasn't the case anymore.

Then again, I did feel sick to my stomach when I remembered Manabu's face and the pipe sticking out from his neck as he died. I shoved the picture out of my mind before I could throw up.

Kurama stood up, "Botan, will you come with me please? On our way here, I noticed some herbs that I could use." Botan looked confused.

"Um alright, but I haven't even treated Hiei yet."

"It's fine, he'll survive for the moment." Kurama acted oblivious to the look Hiei was giving him. Uncertainly, Botan strode over to Kurama and as they were disappearing from sight, I might've heard Botan saying, "But I thought we already picked those herbs!" But I couldn't hear real well, so I shrugged. But now Hiei and I were alone.

The silence between us was suddenly broken by Hiei's groans.

"Damn it!" he cursed and I saw him clutch his side. I noticed the blood stains and I wondered if they had done at least anything _at all._ I must not have been out long. Spotting Botan's medical kit, I snatched it and began easing myself over to him, careful not to put too much pressure on my arm which was now tingling from the aftershock and my leg, which had definitely put all of Yukina's treatment to waste.

He only noticed what I was doing when I was already by his side. He turned his face away, casually leaning his arm against his wound, as if I wouldn't notice him trying to cover it.

He must _really _have thought I was stupid.

"What's wrong now?" he muttered as I grabbed a roll of gauze.

"Lift your arm. I don't want to touch you, so I don't shock you." to my utter disbelief, without complaint or rude comment, Hiei slowly raised his arm and sat up.

He laughed softly, "Right, my arm still hurts from earlier."

"Mine too." I began to wrap the gauze around, careful not to touch his skin directly. I didn't question the fact that he was actually letting me do this, but I was no time just in case he changed his mind. I didn't want him to suddenly revert back to his usual, cold self. He must've hit his head when he fell.

"You know," I began, "We don't make that bad of a team, do we?"

"Hn."

I smiled to myself. I'd been expecting a response like that, and the more time I spent with this guy, I felt like I could understand him a little more. I perceived this particular grunt of his as a 'yes.'

"But also," I continued, "you should try sucking in your pride a little more. We wouldn't even have gotten in this mess if you did!" he didn't answer and turned away instead. Sighing, I continued to bandage him.

Then I heard a mumble. I paused again. His face was still turned away, but there was something wrong with it. It was scrunched as if in discomfort or like his had a bad taste in his mouth, but I was sure I wasn't wrapping him tightly at all.

"What? Am I hurting you?" I asked and he mumbled again, but I still couldn't hear him. The he whipped around to look at me angrily.

"I apologize, you fool!" my eyes widened and his did too, as if he couldn't believe he'd said it himself. Immediately, he looked the other way again. I could only sit, stunned. But then something swelled inside of me and tears came to my eyes. Sensing my turmoil, Hiei glimpsed back at me and his face scrunched up again.

"You're crying now?" The way he said it... he just looked so... frazzled! It was so unlike him. I couldn't hold it back and I smiled widely, laughing, and by the new look on his face, I could tell he was truly lost.

"No, I'm not crying," I said even though I dabbed the tears away quickly, "I'm just happy! And you know Hiei, before I passed out, I even remember you calling my name. Now that I think about it, you called out to me before too. When you were saving me from Tatsuya, remember? I guess it's not that big of a deal, but you've never really used it before...why is it that the only times you call me by my name are during life-death situations?"

He looked completely stunned by my sudden outburst; I noticed him turning a bit red at the ears. My mouth dropped. Hiei was _blushing?_

"You're blushing!" It came out more of an accusation than anything.

"Don't be ridiculous! I don't 'blush'! Only humans do ridiculous things like that."

"But aren't you practically human right now?"

"Shut up, human!"

"Hey!"

Kurama and Botan found us arguing our heads off, but it was ok because I felt like we took a step today. I remembered his comment from yesterday again. _Just stay out of my way._ But it didn't matter now because I don't think Hiei felt like that anymore. I think we were becoming friends. And this wasn't the only thing that proved it, because when Hiei had first glared at me, it wasn't annoyance or loathing. He was worried.

The very possibility made me so incredibly happy, it _was _ridiculous.

~.~.~.~.~.

Kuro sniffed Manabu's decaying body, poking the butt of his scythe mercilessly against his head.

"Yup, dead as a door nail. Find anything Shiro?" Kuro called. Shiro shuffled into view, her eyes twinkling violet.

"Kuro, I found this!" she raised the pipe piece that'd been Manabu's undoing and didn't seem to notice the blood that had begun to drip on her white dress. Kuro sighed.

"Shiro, you're ruining your dress again. Oh well," Suddenly they both perked at the sound of the roof door opening. They looked over and found Tatsuya strolling up to them.

"Hey 'Ryuu,' how was your first day of school?" Kuro chuckled. Tatsuya didn't answer until he was by Kuro's side, looking down at the carrion.

"It was...interesting."

Kuro scratched his head and exclaimed cheerfully, "Well that's good. Glad you had a good day?"

Tatsuya only sighed, "I couldn't find out much about her today and Manabu ended up dead. I wouldn't exactly call it a 'good day.' "

Kuro shrugged, "Eh, it could've been worse. Besides, I didn't like Manabu that much anyways- he smelled."

"Then why didn't you take the job instead?"

"Didn't feel like it! It was just way to early in the morning. Didn't you think so too Shiro?"

Shiro murmured a small, "Uh-huh," and went back to searching for more items, her dress and teddy bear almost soaked completely through.

Tatsuya ran his fingers through his hair, "But I highly doubt that Hiei was able to take him out alone..." he smiled, making Kuro incline an eyebrow.

"What's that smile for?" Kuro prodded.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking that this job just might've gotten interesting."

* * *

><p>(1) tamagoyaki - a Japanese omelet which you can make sweet or salty.<p>

(2) onigiri- a Japanese rice ball

So that's it for the 5th chapter ^^ Sorry it's been so long ;A; I'm so awful, I know T-T

Please review and let me know what you think! :D Till next time~!

Love, InuChimera7410


	6. No Talk and All Bite

Ahh- I'm hopeless -_-

**MyLifeInWhole: **I'm so glad to see you back then! XD Sorry it's been so long! D: I'm trying to get my act back together now :D And yeah, I bet he is ;3

**stacikate16: **:'D Thank you! I'm sorry it's been so long that you couldn't even remember it! T-T But that's definitely my fault... I'm aiming for a chapter a week now! o_o (yes... don't hold me to that promise! I'm just going to have to try my best xD)

**Tay: **Thank you~! :D I'm aiming for once a week now! (even though it's been well over a week since my last chapter T-T ) :D

Chapter 6: No Talk and All Bite

What's ... this sweet smell?

I had to squint as I found myself staring straight into sunlight. I flinched and tried to blink away the white spots that scattered across my vision. What on Earth?

Slowly, I managed to get on my feet. I was standing in the center of a ring of trees, the field covered in a horde of flora of every color as far as I could see. The sweet smelling nectars of the beautiful plants were quickly making me feel light-headed and drowsy.

"Mama!"

Mama? I turned, startled. A small girl was skipping towards me, holding a bundle of picked flowers, her black hair swinging wildly behind her. She was wearing a blue kimono that was tied up to her knees and she was barefoot. Stopping in front of me, she beamed, revealing an innocent smile. Her clear and bright eyes were a shocking blue. I could only stare at her in stunned silence.

She presented the bouquet to me and smiled even wider, "For you!"

Without thinking, I automatically reached out, but I stopped cold, my fingertips brushing the petals, as I stared down in horror. A pair of arms was stretching through, not around, but literally though my stomach! Shaking, I jerkily looked over my shoulder, feeling the blood completely drain from my face as a figure loomed over me.

Screaming, I twisted violently sideways clutching my side. Then I stopped in disbelief when I realized that I hadn't felt anything at all when the arms had gone through. I lifted my shirt and couldn't believe my eyes - there was no gaping hole, only closed, smooth skin.

It was a woman, tall and graceful. Her eyes, too, were outrageously blue. She accepted the bouquet from the child with a warm smile.

If they knew I was here, they were doing a fabulous job of pretending I wasn't. Neither of them even glanced at me.

"Thank you Kuri, they're absolutely beautiful." the woman buried her nose amongst the petals and closed her eyes.

I approached the pair hesitantly, but froze when they both seemed to tense. I didn't dare breathe- maybe they realized that I was there after all.

The woman's eyes snapped wide open and I backed away, stiff with fear and a hammering heart. Her calm orbs were suddenly wide and cruel. She flung the flowers away and dropped to a crouch. Kuri ran behind her and they both stared ahead. Kuri began whimpering.

"Who is that, Mama?"

A man had emerged from the ring of trees, but I couldn't help but look at him in confusion. His clothes were ... _weird._ He wore a cone-shaped, straw hat and was wearing clothes that you might find back in the feudal era. I wondered if he could see me, but his eyes were only on Kuri and her mother. It really sunk in: no one could see me at all.

The man stopped a few feet away and tipped his hat politely. He didn't look like he'd come to deal harm, so I wondered why the woman was still looking so angry and defensive.

"Excuse me miss," the man wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, smiling, "I've seemed to lost my way. Would you mind pointing me to the nearest village?"

But the woman only continued to stare and the man began to fidget under her heavy gaze.

"Er, It's alright if you don't know miss. I'll just be on my way then."

Kuri quietly stepped out from behind her mother.

"Well, this is-" she began, but was abruptly cut off by her mother's growl. Kuri whimpered again and the man yelped in surprise.

"Quiet Kuri! We don't converse with mongrels like humans." My eyes widened- this woman was a demon!

I screamed because she was no longer several feet away, but in the man's face. The man shrieked and stumbled backwards.

"You're the demon of the mountain! Asami!" he squealed in fear and Kuri began to cry as her mother reached down to wrap a clawed hand around the man's neck and picked him off the ground, letting him dangle in mid-air. The man sputtered and choked, eyes shrinking and becoming wild with pure fear. I couldn't move, let alone breathe. _Asami._

Asami hissed, "You don't have to the right to address me, filth." she dug her claws in his neck and glistening red dots began to seep from several places on his skin.

"Mama, please spare the human! Let him go!" Kuri was on her knees, clutching her mother's leg, begging. Asami laughed bitterly.

"I will not let any human infest my land and get away with it."

She squeezed her hand and I screamed again and again, shutting my eyes and slapping my hands over my ears.

But nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, there was only darkness. Except for a hovering pair of shocking blue eyes.

Then everything collapsed around me and I woke up.

~.~.~.~.~.

I was quiet the whole morning, only bothering to shoot meaningless remarks at Hiei, not even comprehending what he would tell me. I had everything tuned out, trapping myself in my thoughts. By lunch, I was shocked that I'd been so out of it, but when I tried to apologize to Hiei, he only looked at me funny.

"Hey Ryuu, are you ok? You haven't touched any of the food I made for you."

"Yeah, mine either."

"Why won't you speak?"

Curious, I looked over at Ryuu who was currently surrounded by a group of girls who'd all gone through the trouble of making him boxed lunches. The poor guy looked like he was turning green, which I could guess was from the stack of empty boxes on his desk.

His chair scraped harshly against the floor and he shot up, startling the people around him.

"I have to go the nurse," was all he managed before he slapped a hand over his mouth and dashed from the room, leaving all the girls with hurt and confused expressions.

"I feel kind of bad for him." I said.

"Hn. Being forced to eat all that ningen food would make me sick, too. And not just because I overate." Hiei muttered, leaning in his chair.

I rolled my eyes: he was one to talk. I could tell that he really liked some of the things I cooked. But being awake the whole night after my nightmare had granted me plenty of thinking time and my thoughts had at one point landed on Ryuu and how he had made me feel so uncomfortable and on-edge. Luckily, I hadn't had the feeling at all so far today.

"Ms. Hashi," I turned to look at the teacher who was coming up to me with a several piles of paper in his arm.

"Did you need me for something?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but you would you mind taking this to the art room for me? I'm running late for something."

"Oh, sure," I said, surprised. He quickly dumped his entire burden on me and I staggered under the sudden weight. Before my arms could give out though, most of it disappeared and I exhaled in relief. I glanced at my rescuer. Hiei was the last person I would've expected to see carrying more than half of my load.

"Hiei-" I started gratefully, but he cut me off as usual.

"Come on, I didn't know the way myself." Hiei marched past me. I was only able to regain my bearings when he finally yelled at me to hurry up.

~.~.~.~.~.-

Although we didn't talk, it didn't feel _silent_. I could feel the constant yet subtle and calm activity of his mind through our link. I was about to bring it up when I noticed something from the corner of my eye and stopped dead in my tracks, the entire stack of papers slipping from my fingers.

Outside the window, Ryuu was leaning over a tree branch, puking. This was the third floor. I whipped towards Hiei.

"Hiei look! It's Ryuu-" I tugged on Hiei's sleeve, ignoring his grunts of protest, urging him to look out the window. But when I finally got him to look, it was as if Ryuu had never been there at all.

"But," without thinking, I placed my hand on Hiei's bare wrist intending to pull him over to the side, but was startled when my fingers were burned with electricity. Hiei hissed and yanked his arm away.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking." I apologized truthfully.

"Enough, let's go."

"R-right." I bent over, trying to collect all the scattered pages. I looked out the window once more. Nothing. I readjusted my grip and hurried to catch up with Hiei.

What was wrong with me today? On a sudden whim, I started down the hallway in a rush. Ryuu had said he'd gone to the nurse and if I took a quick detour, I could make it to her office pretty quickly.

I sped up, the new direction in mind. I saw Hiei look at me strangely, but I continued. I took a sharp left and led us through the maze of halls and felt Hiei crash into me when I stopped. The shock slammed my body and I gasped loudly. For as often as we'd been shocking each other, it wasn't getting any less painful.

"Watch it." Hiei muttered and I shot him a dirty look which he easily reflected. I turned back and eased the nurse's door open. From what I could tell, Ryuu wasn't inside, but there was a curtain that was pulled out towards the back.

"What exactly are we doing here?" asked Hiei.

I smiled wryly, "Quick detour."

"Hn."

I stepped into the office.

"Hello, may I help you?" The nurse, a kind middle-aged lady in a white coat stepped out from behind the curtain. She tapped a clip board in her hands.

"Oh no, we're fine, but we're here to check if Ryuu is ok." I felt a spark of annoyance coming from Hiei and tried my best not to show it on my face.

"Ryuu?" the puzzled look on her face alarmed me. Could Ryuu not have come here? So it _was _him outside? But then a cough and a groan was heard from behind the curtains and a wave of understanding splayed over her face.

"Oh you must mean Mr. Okashi here," she gestured towards the curtains and she laughed, "He lumbered in here looking green and like the dead, muttering something about to much onigiri, but don't worry, he'll be fine. He's sleeping it off right now."

I didn't recognize his last name, but it sounded like we were talking about the same person. I almost sighed: I really must've been imagining things after all.

"Thank you. We'll be on our way then." I said politely. As soon as we exited, I hunched over in defeat.

"What's the matter now?" Hiei grunted.

"Nothing... let's go drop these off."

~.~.~.~.~.

After the door shut, the nurse glimmered as if she were a ripple in water and her clipboard became round and fuzzy. She shrank a few feet, her hair growing long and pink, leaving a small white girl who's eyes blinked silver.

"Hey great acting Shiro!" The curtain was pulled back, revealing a grinning Kuro and a disturbed looking Tatsuya who was still looking a little green.

"Good job!" Kuro pet his twin's head who smiled softly. However, Tatsuya only stayed where he was and glared coldly at Shiro.

"I never said you could use my real name."

Kuro rolled his eyes, "Lay off, it's just a dumb name. Anyways, you do look pretty damn miserable." Tatsuya switched his flare from Shiro to Kuro.

"On other matters, what are we going to do with this doll here?" The three looked over at the clinic bed. In it, the real nurse lay unconscious.

Tatsuya shrugged, "We'll just leave her here. We took her out quick enough for her not to notice anything."

Kuro popped his knuckles, "Are you sure? I can just make sure the easy way." He looked at Tatsuya with gleeful eyes, but only received and exasperated look in return. Kuro slumped, disappointed.

"Whatever, you're just lucky that we're here to help you. Ren definitely would have blabbed something or other about you barfing from a tree."

Tatsuya rubbed his throat, "Right." he wasn't about to thank the demonic twins, but he couldn't help but agree that it would have definitely caused a problem. He narrowed his eyes at the door where they'd just left.

Ren obviously suspected at least a little bit. She couldn't have sensed him, he'd nearly perfected that skill of concealment for masking his energy. He'd have to make it a point to divert her attention and lower her guard.

~.~.~.~.~.

Back in class, lunch break had already ended. For the rest of the afternoon, my mind wandered, but if Hiei sensed anything, he didn't let on. Noticing the empty desk besides me, I frowned. I was feeling a bit guilty. Since the first moment he'd gotten her, I'd been avoiding Ryuu like the plague. Maybe that's why he kept trying to talk to me.

I really wanted to apologize and make amends- the only catch was when.

Botan and Kurama were waiting for us after school. Apparently, Koenma wanted to meet up with us again. Botan tried to rush us, but Hiei, still angry from last time, took his time to stroll.

"I'll walk at my own leisure, thanks." he said.

Kurama chuckled, "Now, now Hiei. Your fate is at his finger tips after all."

"I'd like to see that toddler to try and do anything."

Botan glanced at me and poked my cheek, startling me out of my thoughts. "Are you alright dear? You haven't said a word." I waved her away.

"No I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"...If you say so," Botan said and I sighed. I jumped when I caught Hiei staring at me from the corner of his eyes, but he looked away immediately. I didn't say anything.

And then I caught a bobbing black head among the crowd and I paused. Ryuu was there and I was pleasantly surprised to find him girl-free at the moment.

"Oh, can you guys hold on a minute? I'll be right back." ignoring Botan's surprised protests, I swerved through the crowd and quickly reached Ryuu. I must've taken him by surprise because when I grabbed his shoulder, he cried out and I stepped back.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." I apologized. He looked at me with bewildered eyes and I began to shuffle uncomfortably. I was about to ask if he was ok, but he snapped out of it.

"Oh, Ren right?" he said and grinned, a small pull of his mouth that hung to the side. It was cute, I thought absentmindedly. It kind of reminded me of the smiles that Hiei would flash at me when he was mocking me or smirking. I immediately shoved the thought out of my head.

"Yes... look, I'm really sorry." I bowed.

Ryuu was very confused, "What?"

"It's just that, I've been incredibly rude and I wanted to apologize. I'm wondering if you'd want to start over with me." I looked into his stunned face with hope, just realizing how stupid I must've sounded. My face burned with embarrassment and I cleared my throat. "Actually, never mind, forget I said anything." I turned to leave, but I felt him grab my arm. I looked at him with surprise.

"Hey sure, it's no problem." Ryuu smiled charmingly and I felt myself on blush more. I murmured a quick goodbye and darted out from his grip to make my way back to the others who were still waiting on me. Botan's eyes were shining and seemed to catch fire when she saw the red on my face.

"Oh who was that? He's really handsome! Ren you lucky girl!" She teased and giggled, tapping me with her elbow. I rolled my eyes, refusing to look her in the eye.

"Oh come on, he's just a friend." I mumbled.

She winked, "That's what they all say. Look at you blushing!"

"Hn." Hiei snorted and we all glanced at him.

"Is something wrong Hiei?" Kurama inquired.

He only snorted again and walked ahead, leaving the rest of us behind, thoroughly confused.

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya mused to himself against the tree. Ren had completely surprised him earlier. She really must have little to no energy for him not to even feel her presence coming up behind him. Now thinking about it, he'd only been able to find her after he'd attracted her with his flute too. Unless... no, that was extremely unlikely, he thought.

He'd actually been planning to follow Ren and Hiei home to find where they lived because they couldn't sense either of them, but he hadn't expected Kurama and the Minoru's little sister to appear. If he had released even a bit of suppressed energy, he was certain Kurama would have definitely discovered him. For now, the goal was to keep 'Ryuu' off the radar.

"Hey, there's Ryuu!"

"Let's go say hi!"

Paling, Tatsuya's stomach churned and, scared for his life, he immediately leapt up into the tree and sighed in relief as the girls stopped at the base, looking confused. Today had been fairly troublesome and he'd been so close to being found out twice.

Ren wasn't as not special a human as he'd first thought. And she _had _helped him out a lot. He also hadn't expected her to approach him like that, let alone apologize. She's solved his problem for him.

He slung his arms behind his head, grinning and tuning out the whining of the girls below him, "What a simple fool."

~.~.~.~.~.

I could tell now that yesterday hadn't really completely sunk in, but when it did, I think it was ok although it surprised me. I had a theory that Hiei's calmness was in turn soothing my nerves and I was grateful for the extra help, but at the same time I was excited at the thought of the bond being removed and I'm pretty sure Hiei felt the same. It had been the reason why we'd almost be killed after all.

At least that's what I hoped for, with Koenma coming over. Maybe I would even make it to work on time, bond free! I bounced anxiously.

When we got to the apartment, I looked at the others in confusion. "Wasn't Koenma supposed to be here?"

"Yes, where is he? The sooner this bond is destroyed, the better." said Hiei. For once I agreed with him.

"I need to go to work tonight too."

Botan said, "Well he _said_ he was going to come, " she trailed off and my hope began to deflate. Then a voice echoed throughout the room.

"Calm down, I'm right here."

The room began to glow with a soft, blue light and I jumped backwards, tripping and falling against the edge of a piece of furniture. My ankle throbbed, a friendly reminder that I needed Yukina soon. I had to shield my eyes and then blink twice until I recognized Koenma standing in a pool of blue flame. I quickly got up.

"Fire!" I screeched. Then Hiei was at my side, arms crossed.

"Relax, it's only spirit energy; it won't burn you. Try being a little less clumsy _onna_." (1)

_Onna!_

"Why you-" a vein popped in my head, but just as I was about to grab him and wipe the all-knowing look on his face, Koenma cleared his throat.

"From what I've been told Ren, I wouldn't want to be touching Hiei right now."

"Right..." I muttered. Embarrassed, I put my arms down and caught Hiei's smirk from the corner of my eyes. My blood boiled; he would end up driving me crazy!

"Koenma sir," Botan said hesitantly, approaching his blue figure, "What are you in that form? Wouldn't it have been easier to come in person?"

Koenma's brow twitched slightly and he waved her off.

"Don't be silly Botan. I'm very busy and this was the most convenient way." Koenma trailed off, fidgeting. I looked at him strangely- for some reason, I doubt that had been the whole reason.

"Is there something wrong Koenma?" Kurama asked.

"Eh heh, well I guess it depends on how you look at it," Koenma turned to face Hiei and I, his face gravely blue.

"I'd like you two to explain what happened from the beginning and don't leave anything out." Hiei covered it pretty well. He left out details of how he's stubbornly refused help and such, but I let him talk from start to finish.

Done, Hiei continued to glare at Koenma who looked like he was trying to shrink away.

"Koenma," he began threateningly, "This bond of yours has caused nothing, but trouble. I demand that you remove it!" I joined in.

"Yeah we almost died because of it! Please take it off."

Koenma chuckled nervously, "Well, the thing is..."

Uh oh. My heart plummeted. I did _not _like where this was going and I felt the sudden spark of Hiei's anger like a hot flame.

His voice was low and dangerous, "What is the '_thing'_?" Koenma took a small step back. I did too, and an image of the first day when we met flashed in my head and I shuddered. Hiei, powerless, was scary enough, but Hiei in full-demon form... that was something I'm not sure I wanted to see.

Koenma attempted to regain his face of authority, "Well, the thing is," he tried again, "... I actually don't know how to remove the bond."

The room was deathly silent and I beat Hiei by yelling, "_What?_"

Koenma put his hands up in a signal of peace, "Calm down, let me explain!"

Hiei cracked his knuckles, "I hope you have a good explanation or I'll make sure you'll wish that you'd never been born once I get my powers back." I could see Koenma pale even in the blue light.

"Well as you know Hiei, the bond is just spiritual energy encased in a tangible membrane, right? So wouldn't it make sense that spirit energy is the only thing that can break it? The time I tried it out on Yusuke, he'd been freed because his own spiritual energy eventually dissolved the bond, _also_ made of his own energy. Of course, this is a theory I've developed just several hours ago. Based on this theory of mine, you two must not be able to separate because Ren is just an ordinary human who doesn't wield any powers like that and yours was taken away."

"What about this electric shock and mental connection then?" Hiei barked.

Koenma frowned in frustration, "I've been thinking about that too and the only answer I could come up with was that your souls aren't in any type of resonance with each other, and thus they repel each other like magnets except with a shock. But that wouldn't make any sense because if that were the case, then the bond wouldn't have been able to form at all in the first place. While not totally common, it wouldn't have been strange if your energies didn't connect. There must have been something connecting you two from the very beginning, something that wouldn't fill in the typical resonance category."

My eyes widened as a specific memory hit me like a freight train. It couldn't have been _that_...could it?

Hiei's anger peaked. He thrust a closed fist forward at Koenma who began scrambling backwards in fear, but Hiei only hit air unexpectedly and lost his balance. He tipped over and landed hard on one knee.

Koenma sighed out loud in relief, "Woo, I forgot I was in apparition form!" I twitched: Koenma must have been expecting Hiei to react like this. What a coward!

"Well, I'll see you guys later!" Koenma chimed hurriedly and with a pop, he was gone.

"Next time I see Koenma, I hope he's in that form again, or he's dead." growled Hiei.

I sighed miserably, "I can't believe this... Whatever. I need to get ready for work." I turned to drag myself to my room.

"...Okay, would you like me to help you with anything-" Botan began saying but I quickly shut my door, signaling that I didn't want to talk. I felt like banging my head against the wall. Could things get any worse? Well, they could if I was late. _Again._

I dressed quickly and re did my hair ribbon. I stroked the end like usual and sighed.

'Oh mom, this would've been a great time to be here for me,' I thought, but she'd never be here for me. She never had been.

~.~.~.~.~.

"Why are you guys coming again?" I asked, exasperated.

"Well we wouldn't want Hiei to be lonely. We thought he could use the company." I could see Yusuke's grin flashing in the dark.

Before I'd left the house, Yusuke, Keiko, Kuwabara, and Yukina had showed up, as they seemed to be doing quite frequently lately. Yukina had come to check on my condition and to take a look at my ankle which I was surprised was still treatable with how much it was getting banged on lately, and the other had tagged along.

Strangely (or actually not), Hiei seemed to become less angry, except when Kuwabara kept casually slinging an arm around an oblivious Yukina.

Hiei walked next to me, my guess being that he wasn't able to stand the sight of Kuwabara and Yukina together. Everyone else trailed behind us. Kurama was speaking in hushed whispers to Botan, Keiko was busy smacking Yusuke and Yukina was giggling at some of Kuwabara's horrible jokes.

"Hey."

I looked at Hiei curiously, "What?"

"Why are you always wearing that?"

I immediately pulled my hand from my hair, not realizing that I'd been stroking my ribbon again, "Sorry, habit. It's important to me."

"And why is that?" he inquired.

I pondered over the question for a second, thinking of my mother, "... it's none of your business."

"Hn."

"So..." I began, trying to soften the brick wall Hiei had just thrust up between us, "if it bothers you so much, you should do something."

Hiei looked genuinely confused, his face unguarded and soft without the lines of anger he usually had, "What?"

"You know!" I dropped my voice to a whisper and used my hand as a wall between us and the rest of them, "I'm talking about Yukina."

Hiei visibly froze, his eyes wide and I noticed his ears turning pink again. We both glanced at the small ice demon who was busy being too entertained to notice anything else. Hiei turned back to glower at me, flustered.

"What are you talking about?" he hissed. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm talking about how you're obviously in love with her! You need to say something or it'll be too late." I insisted.

Hiei looked absolutely shocked which had me taken aback. I looked at him worriedly, suddenly embarrassed.

I turned slightly away, feeling blood rush through my cheeks, "What? I see the way you look and treat her all the time. It's not like I have anything against Kuwabara or anything, but I-"

And then Hiei laughed- a great whooping bark that made me reel on the inside. He grinned wolfishly at me as if I'd just told him the funniest joke.

"What a fool...Listen closely so I don't have to say this again. I'm not in love with Yukina, but I do love her. And _believe _me, I _will_ get my say to that buffoon before this is over."

I couldn't help but be in a stoop. Something inside me told myself that what Hiei had just said, as casually as he did, was something very important. But what concerned me was what felt like a relief of pressure on my chest. I felt my ears begin to heat up, feeling confused. _I'm...relieved?_

"Wait what? You have to tell me more than that! You can't just say that and expect for me to leave you alone." I protested.

Hiei smirked at me, his eyes shining with a challenge.

_He's seriously enjoying this! _I thought incredulously. _Unbelievable! But on the other hand... I've _never_ seen this light-hearted side of him. I didn't even know such a side could exist._

Hiei hn'd and said, "It's none of your business."

I was stunned for a moment- and then I started laughing too.

Through my chuckling, I mumbled a quick, "Touché."

Hiei was smirking the rest of the way, helplessly leaving me to feel the sting of my own words.

~.~.~.~.~.

Of course, I was late.

The manager was seriously chewing me out. She was a pudgy old lady with rough hands and a pinched face, and she could brutally scold. After a while, I tuned her out until I began catching words like "no pay" or "fired." I panicked slightly- I wouldn't be able to pay rent if I was fired! But after she'd finished, her face softened and she told me how glad she was that nothing bad had happened to me.

I bowed in gratitude several hundred times before she began getting angry again and shoved me off to work.

Hiei was forced to sit at the bat to allow me greater flexibility to move. Fortunately, there had been an empty booth next to the stool so I had everyone settled there so Hiei didn't have to be completely isolated.

When I went to the back room to check which tables I'd be waiting, I sighed in bliss when I noticed that I wouldn't have to be serving them.

~.~.~.~.~.

"Well this is a nice little place, ain't it?" Yusuke said and Yukina nodded enthusiastically.

"It is really cute!"

"Yes, I think so too," Botan agreed. She was about to launch into another string of speech until Yusuke cleared his throat. She looked at him curiously and he subtly jerked his head to the side a few times. Getting the message, Botan suddenly slapped her hands on the tables, startling them all.

"Hey girls, while we're waiting, let's go look around outside!" she chirped excitedly. The other two girls blinked in bafflement, and amidst a rush of confusion, Botan managed to successfully pull the girls out, deaf to their weak protests. As soon as they were out the door, the mood at the table became abruptly sober.

Yusuke leaned forward, serious, "All right, now down to business."

Kurama crossed his arms, troubled, "Well, as of now, we're mostly concerned with three things. First, the sudden drop in the ES ever since yesterday. Second, this new group of enemies are apparently connected with the ES. And third, the location of this Asami and what exactly she is trying to accomplish through all this. We haven't seen any ES in the area at all, which leads to suggest that they withdrew or migrated. But on the contrary, those actions seem unlikely to me. By now they must know that Hiei is still alive and that our group is responsible for Manabu's death. Based on that fact alone, I think it would make them want to center around Ren and Hiei's school in order to get rid of them quicker."

"But Kurama," Hiei said, "Wouldn't they have actually gone away because of Manabu's death?"

"No. The enemy knows that your power is gone, seeing as they are the ones who took it, so if I were the enemy, I would assume that Manabu had only been reckless or Hiei was just lucky."

Hiei scowled and looked away.

"So what should we do Kurama?" asked Kuwabara.

"All we can do for now is keep a close eye on the school, maybe even relocate there."

"Er, this sucks!" Yusuke whined, "I hate it when the enemy is smarter than we are!"

"Urameshi, they're _all _usually smarter than you."

"Hey watch it!" Yusuke slung an arm around a laughing Kuwabara's neck.

Kurama sighed, "Hiei, what do you think?"

They all paused, waiting for Hiei, but he didn't answer.

"Hiei?" Kurama turned to look at Hiei, only to find that Hiei wasn't paying attention to them anymore at all- to them at least.

Kurama followed his stare, and was surprised. Yusuke and Kuwabara looked too, having stopped wrestling to see what was going on. In the near distance, Ren was catering tables.

Hiei watched Ren with a forced, pinched smile on her face as she bee-lined through the room. At one point, she even almost fell while walking to deliver an order. Surrounding tables laughed, and she blushed fiercely, quickly straightening herself. Hiei smirked.

Yusuke felt a mischievous grin slide across his face.

"Well, well, look what we have here." Yusuke scooted closer to Hiei so he would be in an obvious hearing distance and suddenly laughed, "Hey Hiei, don't you think Ren looks good in that kimono."

Hiei stared at Yusuke coldly, "Not particularly."

Yusuke didn't seem to hear him and reached out to pat his shoulder, "Who'd ever thought it? I wish you luck!"

Hiei growled, slapping the hand away, "Don't be ridiculous."

"But Hiei," Yusuke turned round and innocent eyes to him, "Weren't you just staring at her with a _dreamy, faraway _look." He batted his eye lashes.

For a moment, Hiei looked at a loss for words as what Yusuke was getting at sunk in, but then his eyes filled with such poison that Yusuke knew if looks could killed, he'd be expecting himself to spontaneously combust any second.

"Well wasn't this nice?" Botan strolled up to their table, followed by Yukina and Keiko who were chattering excitedly. Yusuke ushered Keiko quickly into the seat next to him, providing him a barrier between Hiei and him. Better yet, Yukina sat on the end, so Hiei wasn't as likely to attempt to kill him right then and there. Demon or not, Hiei was not one to be messed with.

Botan slid smoothly next to Kurama who whispered a quick thanks to her. She winked back.

Kurama peeked at Hiei again who'd gone back to staring the other way with a complicated look on his face, as if he were pondering something important. But Ren was nowhere to be found. Kurama turned to Hiei curiously.

_Just what are you thinking, Hiei?_

~.~.~.~.~.

I'd already been scolded my most of my superiors and even by my co-workers. I was really ready for this night to be over. It was either 'you made my overwork!' or 'how dare you make us worry about you like that' or even 'be grateful you haven't been fired' which I was...

At the end of my shift, I tiredly put on my normal clothes. My mind wandered to the others. To my knowledge, everyone had left, except for Hiei. I think he said he would wait out the back.

I tried to hurry so he wouldn't have to wait long and slamming my locker shut, I went to say goodnight to the manager who gave a final yelling, but also a leftover pastry cake, which I thanked graciously before I left quickly.

As expected , Hiei was leaning against the brick wall.

"About time." he grunted. I looked at him sourly.

"Please not tonight. I'm really not in the mood."

"Hn. Let's go Ren."

I stopped in my tracks and my face felt red. Hands pocketed, Hiei turned to me, growling and snapped, "What's the matter _now?_"

"Nothing," my cheeks burned. That was the second time he...

My bad mood evaporated like water.

We walked in comfortable silence and I began to wonder when I had gotten so used to this atmosphere. I glanced down at the pastry box in my hands and looked at Hiei.

"Hey... do you like cake?" I asked smiling.

"Cake?" Hiei crinkled his nose.

"Uh huh. Vanilla flavored."

"What the hell is cake?"

My eyes widened in horror, "Oh come on! It's _cake_ for crying out loud. Don't tell me you've never tried it before." I opened the box and showed the pristinely decorated sweet. He looked, but frowned.

"I'm a demon. I don't eat trivial things like your so called 'cake'."

"That doesn't mean anything! Here," I thrust the open box into his hands.

"Try it," I insisted. Hiei looked at the box with malice.

"You must be joking."

"Just try it. It tastes good!"

He didn't make any attempt and only held the box out to me; I crossed my arms stubbornly.

"Fine, never mind." I marched ahead.

After a short time, I began to sense Hiei's unrelenting curiosity and I smirked, but didn't look back. I was learning his ways.

I held my breath, else I was going to lose this opportunity. I focused in on Hiei's mind as best as I could. It was filled with a skeptical curiosity, and then it after a couple moments of hesitation, it suddenly peaked and his mind was overwhelmed with a wondrous elation that completely caught me off guard.

The last time I had cake, I remembered it to be good, but not _that_ good. Well, this was Hiei's perception after all... I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning wildly in triumph.

When we got home, the box was empty.

~.~.~.~.~.

The next day we were both in fairly good moods but right outside the school gate Hiei halted suddenly causing me to run into his back. Grumbling, I rubbed my arms where they had suddenly numbed from shock.

"What happened?" I muttered.

"Wait," the seriousness in his voice made me nervous.

"So your senses haven't been completely dulled, Hiei." we both turned to see Kurama and Botan approaching us.

"Botan, Kurama," I said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"We sensed a disturbance here." said Kurama.

"What do you mean?"

Hiei glanced at me, "You've got the ring, right?"

"Yeah I have it."

"Good, now go look." Hiei gestured at the school. Expecting something to suddenly pop out, I frowned when nothing did.

"I don't see anything."

"Tch, go ahead."

"...ok." I stepped cautiously through the gate when a heavy and overwhelming pressure seemed to grab hold of me. I grabbed my chest, feeling it weigh me down, as if it were subtly crushing my heart and lungs. Gasping, I stumbled back.

"What was that?" My voice was breathy and I panted as if I'd just sprinted across the courtyard.

"That is a demonic aura, a strong one at that. You should get used to it after a bit. But this one's strange because it feels all over the place." Kurama said.

"But I didn't feel it yesterday." I protested.

"That's because it wasn't there," Hiei said, "It's so strong, even I could feel it in this wretched state. It's those damn bugs."

Botan gulped lightly, "This isn't good."

I wrapped my arms around myself, as the school seemed to become bigger and darker, looming over us, "It almost seems like they know they'll win."

There was a moment of oppressive silence.

Hiei hn'd, "I'd like to see them try to get away with what they did to me."

Kurama chuckled, "Yes, we can't allow them to succeed in whatever they're doing."

_That's what they say,_ I said, _but still. Why can't I shake this terrible feeling?_

~.~.~.~.~.

It was difficult for me to breathe normally inside the school. Each breath was a deep gasp, but as I kept inhaling and exhaling, it seemed to become a little easier as my body became accustomed to it.

Before leaving, Botan had entrusted me with a bright blue and yellow spray can that she said was bug spray. The label said: _Bug-Be-Banished, the Spirit World's No. 1 brand in fending yourself off from mini to small demon insects! _I'd thought it was funny at the time, but since then we'd already run into at least twenty insects; I successfully managed to dissolve them all. The first time I'd used the can, I'd caused a small scene.

When we spotted some of the insects, I'd rushed to take them out and began to spray, but instead of the spray I'd expected to be spewed out, brilliant flames roared out, charring the bugs to ash. I'd dropped the can as I screamed, but people only looked at me like I'd gone crazy. Even worse, Hiei laughed at me. Apparently, I should have known that the can shot out fire.

Now in the classroom, I sat tense and alert waiting for the small, purple movements. It was eerily quiet and other students fidgeted nervously. Although they couldn't feel the true aura, I could tell that they felt _something. _I involuntarily shuddered, and I could feel Hiei's mind on high alert as well. I could feel his mind on high alert.

"Cold?"

Caught off guard, I turned to see Ryuu handing me a jacket and smiling. I'd forgotten that I'd resolved to be friends with him now. Feeling awkward, I tried to kindly turn him down.

"No, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, but thanks."

He nodded, looking a bit awkward and flustered himself, and withdrew his jacket, but when I turned back to the front, the hair on the back of my neck prickled and I began feeling nauseous. The aura was coming back again. Hiei had sensed it too because he was now pretty much half-standing, looking around.

"Mr. Sukisho, Ms. Hashibami is there a problem? You two have been looking awfully distracted."

Settling back into his seat, Hiei grumbled and took to looking out the window and I just waved, quietly shaking my head. The teacher turned back to the board with raised eyebrows and the class snickered quietly. My face flushed and I sunk in my chair. After the class had settled and turned back to the lesson, I quickly ripped a piece of paper from a notebook and scribbled furiously: _Did you feel that?_

I subtly slipped it over Hiei's shoulder. He grabbed hold of it, skimmed it, and then crumpled it and casted it to the floor. I stared at the thrown piece in irritation and my eye twitched.

_Kami_... I was about to pick it up and throw it at him when I felt a different sensation at the back of my head. It felt as if it were vibrating softly, from Hiei's mind. Picturing a mental probe, I poked at it gently and I gasped to myself when I began picking out familiar vibrations that jumbled together. _Words._

"_Yes, I did._"

"_...Hiei?"_

_"Who else?"_

_"I'm... I'm hearing you in my head!" _

_"Hn, idiot."_

_"Well, excuse me, but we're currently being telepathic right now, I'm a little freaked out."_

_"Hn, well I figured once I realized our minds were connected that I'd be able to channel some of my ability that I have left to do at least this much."_

_"Wait, you can read minds!" _I squeaked in panic in my head. Hiei growled and pinched his nose.

"_If you would please stop yelling. You're giving me a migraine. And, no I can't read your mind. However, in my full demon state, that's a different story."_

I gulped. Hopefully that could be avoided in the future, regardless of the fact that getting Hiei's powers back was one of the main goals.

_"Regardless,"_ Hiei pressed, "_Stay alert. I'm sure several ES just entered this room, but they've hidden. If you see one, don't hesitate to destroy it."_

I clenched my fist, _"Are you crazy? We can't make a scene like that! We'd look insane."_

Hiei shot back, "_Don't be a coward now of all times! What's more important to you?"_

A lump formed in my throat, _"That's not... Just don't!"_

_"Then what do you suggest we do?"_

I couldn't answer and I felt Hiei pull away, leaving me slightly stung. But this wasn't a time for that. Switching to high alert, I skimmed my eyes across the classroom. This wasn't good. If there were more ES floating around it'd be smart to get out and look for them, but what chance would we have of actually getting them all?

Wait!

I shot straight up, staring across the room at Mina Suzuki. She had short black hair and big eyes the reminded me of a puppy's. She was currently ignoring the lesson, her nose buried in a book, but that wasn't what had caught my attention. It was the small mass of purple crawling up her neck. I could see the book teetering in her grip, as if she were losing the strength to hold it; she herself began to droop downwards.

I was about to alert Hiei when she suddenly closed her book and stood up, wobbling, the bugs settling themselves in her hair which I quietly gagged at. The teacher paused, noticing the disturbance.

"Ms. Suzuki, is there a problem?"

She nodded weakly, "May I go to the nurse? I'm not feeling too well."

The teacher looked her over, taking note of her pale face and shaky complex and nodded, "Of course."

Not able to stop myself, I stood up, "Can I go too? I'm feeling bad as well." He flashed an irritable glance in my direction.

"You look perfectly fine Ms. Hashibami."

I bit my lip and tried to summon a sickly aura about me, "No really, I'm feeling awful."

He sighed and only turned back to the board, "Fine. You can go."

I grabbed Hiei's sleeve, "I'm feeling dizzy so Hiei said he'd help me there." I proceeded in dragging Hiei out of the room, leaving behind a muttering rumor-forming class. Once we'd gotten out, he slapped my hand away, stinging the both of us.

"What's this about?" he demanded. I jabbed at the retreating form of Mina in the distance who was now holding the wall for support.

"Didn't you see them? I saw the ES on her!"

Hiei instantly tensed, "Why didn't you say anything as soon as you saw them? Come on," he seethed and we hurried over to her.

"Hey Mina!" I called. Mina paused and turned to look at us. She'd already worked up a good sweat and looked like she was about to collapse.

"Um, do you know me?" she panted once we'd caught up to her. I was startled by her surprisingly blue eyes, and Kuri's face flashed in my mind. I swatted the thought away; there were more important things to focus on at the moment.

"We're in the same class. Anyways... Ah! What's that?" I gasped out loud, scaring her. She whirled around. I beckoned Hiei with my head. He quickly approached, ready to swat the parasites away.

"There's nothing there..." Mina said nervously, turning back around.

"Wait-" I tried, but not in time. Mina's mouth dropped in horror as Hiei's hand came crashing down on her head.

The good news was that the ES immediately flew away. The bad news was that they flew away too quickly that we couldn't get to them. And the other bad news was that Mina's eyes had rolled up into her head and she became a dead weight in my arms.

I stood in stunned silence for a full second. Then I blew up.

"You GIANT _IDIOT! _You freaking karate-chopped her head! Kami, you didn't have to knock her out. What do we do now? What if she has a concussion or worse!" I screamed.

Hiei covered his ears and glared strongly at me.

"It wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't made such a bad distraction. But this isn't the time for that. "

"Um yeah, this isn't the time! We seriously need to get her to the nurse now."

We shouldered her weight and quickly limped to the Nurse's office. When we got there, I was surprised to find a man in a white coat instead of the nurse yesterday. Spotting us, he quickly set his coffee down and helped us move Mina onto the bed at the back of the room.

He began to look her over, checking her vital signs, "Tell me what happened."

Hiei turned away, forcing me to do the talking, "She had been feeling sick and we were escorting her and while on the way she suddenly collapsed." Please _don't see the bruise on her head._

"Um if you don't mind, sir." I began hesitantly, "Why isn't our normal nurse here today?"

He shook his head sadly, "Oh that poor woman. The doctors said she's suffered a mental breakdown. Too much stress, I think? She's at the hospital. Please don't go carelessly spreading this around though, I'm not sure it's really any of our business."

I was startled. She'd looked perfectly fine yesterday. The audio didn't match the video...

"Well, we'll be going now. Please take care of Mina." I bowed politely and pulled Hiei out of the room.

I sighed, "Now what?"

"What do you think? We look for those cursed bugs." he tossed me the small can of spray from his pocket.

"Yes, before it begins to infect others."

"Right. Let's go."

"But where do we start?"

We took off running. From there on, we didn't return to class and spent the rest of the day looking. On multiple accounts we found girls stumbling down the halls to the nurse's but they didn't have as many ES as Mina did. At the day's end, I was exhausted and scared. So many bugs... how could this possibly end except in- I cut my thought off.

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya stormed out to the roof top in a small rage. Kuro lounged a bit away, Shiro napping on his lap.

Kuro grinned at him, "Hey, what's got you in such a bad mood?"

"It's nothing."

"Right, it's obviously not nothing. Now why don't you tell big brother Kuro all about your problems."

Tatsuya scowled at him and Kuro cracked up.

"Enough Kuro. It's been a bad day; and I told you not to touch the damned woman's mind!"

Kuro shrugged, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

"Yes you could have. You're only drawing unnecessary attention to us."

"Relax! Nobody's noticed anything."

"Yet!"

Kuro rolled his eyes, "All right, you're usually not this cranky. Why don't you really tell me what's up?"

Tatsuya only stared. Kuro sat up.

"Fine, if it makes you feel any better, you know I still hate you, right?"

Tatsuya cracked a grim smile, "I know."

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei and I walked home in tired silence. We'd run around all day and between vanquishing demons and trying not to get caught (at least on my part), I was wiped out.

No words were exchanged when we got home and I immediately slunk to my bed and threw myself down on it. I was only slightly aware of Hiei walking around for a while, and at one point I heard the door open and close at one point. My eyes began to droop and I drifted in and out of consciousness.

After a while, it hit me. Did Hiei just...? My eyes flew open and I scrambled out of bed and into the main room. He wasn't in sight. Where did he go?

I ran back to my room and charged for the window, ripping the curtain out of the way. I blinked in bewilderment. Hiei was tucked between two branches, eyes closed, lounging.

But my head was still whirring. The only way Hiei was able to get there would have been out of my window or the dining room. I knew that because we'd tested it before and Hiei couldn't do it any other way because of the bond. I opened my window.

"Hiei! How did you get there?"

He barely cracked an eye open to stare at me, "I climbed. How do you think?"

"I'm not stupid! I meant that with the bond, there was no way you could've gotten there because it should have prevented you from leaving and going around."

Hiei opened both eyes and I could feel his mind mulling over what I'd just told him. My own gears were turning.

"Get down Hiei, I want to test something."

I slipped on my shoes and exited the apartment, taking the stairs down two at a time, careful not to get anywhere near the rusted parts like I always did now. However when I stepped up to the tree, Hiei had yet to come down.

"Since when did I start taking orders from you?" he said.

I sighed in frustration, "Ok then, will you please come down, Hiei?"

"Hn. I don't think so."

What did he _want_ from me?

"Hiei! Please, I just want to test something and then I'll leave you alone." For a few moments, I really thought Hiei would just keep ignoring me, but then I heard him grunt and he jumped down, landing hard on the ground.

"Make it quick." he growled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Ok then, just stay there a second. I'm going to walk back, about fifteen feet because last we checked that was as far as we could go."

I slowly made my way back to what I thought I was about fifteen feet, anticipating the bond to suddenly light up as I did before. But it never did. I tried to walk back more, but my back hit the fence.

"Hiei, walk back- I mean, can you please walk back now?" I made sure to ask him nicely this time. Fortunately, he only growled and began to move back. He stepped back once. Twice. Three times. There was the familiar pull against my hand as the bond began to glow and we couldn't be any further apart.

But we were definitely farther from each other than before. I ran up to him, excited.

"Hiei, the bond is getting longer!" He looked uncertain, as if he didn't know what face to wear at the moment, but I could tell that he was glad too, although a little skeptical.

"But it's only a few steps differences," I mused over darkly.

"Quite the optimist aren't you," Hiei smirked.

"Like you're one to talk!"

"Hn." He turned and I watched in amazement as he nimbly swept himself up the tree and settled himself into the crook of his branch. I wavered for a moment and then shrugged. I slid beside the trunk and tilted my head up to Hiei who had again closed his eyes.

"So, how _do_ you do that so easily?"

"What?"

"Climb the tree so fast."

"Didn't we already discuss this?"

I frowned, my cheeks flaming, "Er, well... I'm asking about how you actually get up."

"Hn, it's maddeningly easy."

"No it's not. When I was little, I used to try and climb that tree all the time, but I'd always end up having Mako bandage me up because I'd fall off half-way up." I chuckled fondly at the memory.

Hiei paused, "Mako?"

I gasped lightly, "Oh that's right, I've never really talked about him with you before. He's my uncle and guardian. I'm pretty sure I must've at least mentioned him once..." I trailed off, trying to remember.

"Where is he now?" Hiei asked curiously.

I was quiet, thinking it over, "... I don't really know. I mean he says it's business, and he comes home every now and then, but he takes care of me very well, so I can't really complain. As long as he comes back home every once in a while, I'm ok."

I laughed to myself, making Hiei peer down at me, "But with you Hiei, it's like taking care of a child; I never have time to myself anymore." He shot me a glare tipped with poison and the conversation was instantly snipped.

I rolled my eyes, "Hiei, I was just _joking_. Get a sense of humor... then again, don't. I don't think I'd want to hear any jokes you'd come up with."

He snorted and I smiled.

"But," I said, staring up into the now dark sky, "I'm not lonely anymore." I confessed.

"...Hn."

"..."

"..."

"The stars are pretty tonight, don't you think?" I offered.

"Hn."

* * *

><p>Good? Terrible? xD I would be super grateful if you would spare a couple of moments of your time just to shoot me a quick review of your opinions! Tell me what you thought was good andor bad about it! :D Please be honest! Every bit is appreciated. ^^ I'm more than halfway done with the enitre story... I'm just so lazy in updating D: Next thing I know, time is flying and weeks to months have passed! I wish someone could slap me upside the head... _

Funny thing is, this is actually half a chapter! But I figured that I was cramming everything into this one chapter so I decided to separate them c: So it really is like I'm writing separate chapters... I need to get my act together!*epic pose*

So please review! As a humble writer to other writers, you understand how every review is really taken to heart :3 Each review is seriously like the kindle to my fire~! x3

Till next time then~ hopefully in a couple of days (most likely!)

Love InuChimera7410


	7. Dreams and Nightmares

Hi again! ^_^ Sorry this chapter is short-ish! It's about half of what most of them have been, sort of ^^; I'm actually planning to update every wednesday now, but since this week's wednesday is on the** Fourth of July**(Yaaay~ my birthday is on Friday \(^o^)/ as a present, please leave a review? ;D ), I decided to do it early! :DD Expect the next chapter next wednesday though! Happy early Independence Day! :3

THANK YOU all for the favorites and alerts too! It just lets me know that more and more people are excited for the story~!

**Kaiya's Watergarden: **I'm so glad you liked it c: Thank you sooo much for the review!

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**stacikate16: **Yeah, but I'm glad you've been reading it because even though most of it is the same, there are tons of little differences that I've made, which you've probably seen already xD But be sure to read the next chapter because by the middle of it, I'll have finally reached the point that I left off in the original~!

Chapter 7: Dreams and Nightmares

_Tap. Tap... Tap._

Groggy, I turned in a jumbled mess of sheets and spotted Hiei tapping at the window. He wanted me to let him in.

_He must've stayed on the tree last night, _I thought fuzzily as I opened the window. He leapt in fluidly and stared at me with probing eyes. I stared back, confused and very wide awake.

"Is something wrong Hiei...?" I asked, slightly worried.

He stared at me for what seemed like the longest time. His face began to flicker into a complicated expression and my heart began to throb. Flashes of confusion, hurt, _fear_, and bits of other feelings crossed his face and I squeaked when he began to approach me, stopping only when his gaze was bearing down on me. My face flushed with heat.

"Hiei...? Are you ok?" He was _way_ too close for comfort, his red eyes blazing. From this close, they looked hazy and my eyes widened. I couldn't rip my eyes away.

He leaned even closer, and my eyes become half-lidded. _He was so close.._.

"I had a dream about..." he breathed out and suddenly his eyes seemed to clear and he was looking at me with wide eyes, mirroring my own. Our noses were practically touching.

The door slammed open and Botan danced in, singing, "Good morning, Ren! Rise and shine-" she froze and her mouth dropped open.

Hiei drew back as fast as lightning and turned away, refusing to look me in the eyes, "Hn."

My face felt like it was permanently on fire. What had just happened...?

Kurama walked into the room, amid a heavy silence and he coughed, catching a glimpse of Botan's face, "Did I miss something?"

I shakily got up, "No, no! What are you guys doing here?"

Botan twitched and spoke slowly, but her eyes began to twinkle and I suddenly felt cold, "Ahem, well we came to walk with you to school, but I see you aren't quite ready yet."

I glanced down at myself, suddenly feeling self-conscious about being in my pajamas and I drew the covers over myself, my blush brightening. Then in a sudden fit, I leapt out of bed, rushed to get my clothes, and ran past them all towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I slid against the door, feeling my red face begin to cool.

_What's wrong with me?_

~.~.~.~.~.

We didn't speak all morning, like usual I suppose, and having Botan there was absolutely no help at all so I was quite grateful when we finally had to say goodbye at the school.

I couldn't stop thinking of this morning, and I burned. He said he'd had a dream... he must've been half asleep or something because there was no way Hiei would ever do that in his right mind. I fidgeted as I glanced at the back of his head. Could he be thinking as much as I was right now? Probably not. He'd probably already dismissed it from his mind.

I sighed, looking away and then I froze. Mina was staring straight at me. On reflex, I whipped my face forward, but now that I was subtly aware of her gaze, I itched to stare back.

_What did she do once she'd woken up in the nurse's office? Did she remember what happened or did Hiei hit her hard enough that she doesn't? Will she say anything to us? Will she tell anyone about it? Could she have already?_

My head continued spinning with all the horrible possibilities and I groaned.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ryuu was looking at me strangely.

"What? What are you talking about? I'm fine!" I chirped merrily.

"You're an awful liar," he put it so bluntly, I blushed. Flustered, I knotted my hands in my lap.

"No, I'm fine. Really." What else could I say? I couldn't exactly tell him what was wrong!

Ryuu opened his mouth to say something, but the teacher called him to answer a question and I rejoiced in my luck.

However, I wasn't prepared to meet Hiei's gaze. As soon as I did, this morning came back _again_ and I looked away, as did he.

Why couldn't I just forget about it?

"Now students, I'd like us to do a small experiment today, and I'd like to assign you all in pairs." Unconsciously, I leaned towards Hiei.

"Except I'll be choosing the partners."

_Crap._

~.~.~.~.~.

I took it back: I had no luck at all. I think Kami was out to get me or something, I thought as I miserably stood next to Ryuu. But then again maybe not, I mended as I looked over at Hiei who was with, of all people, Mina. Hiei obviously didn't want to be there and Mina was looking at Hiei with big and fearful eyes. She must've remembered more than she was letting on.

_At least Hiei will be able to keep an eye on her..._ I glanced at Ryuu who smirked down at me, his green eyes shining. Something about the way he stared irked me and I glared slightly. He towered over me, unlike Hiei who was about my own height.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Nothing." the way he was looking at me made the red creep up my neck and splay over my face. I spun away, steaming. _Damn him and his cool smile._

This was definitely a new side of Ryuu I'd never encountered before and I'm not sure I liked it that much.

"That's not nice you know." he placed his hand on top of my head making me feel smaller than I already felt.

_His hand is big,_ I thought dryly.

I peered at Hiei and Mina who seemed to be going to equal lengths to avoid each other. I'd rather have been over there. I caught myself longing for Hiei's independent and quiet presence. With an internal groan, I forced him out of my mind, annoyed that he seemed to be popping into my thoughts more than desired lately.

Ryuu was pretty silent once we got to buying ourselves, but eventually _I _couldn't even stand it and tried to initiate small talk.

"So Ryuu... where are you from?"

He trained his cool green eyes on me, analyzing, but then he looked back down, focusing on chopping one of our items, "From the north."

"Where north?"

"I don't remember." there was a genuine rawness in his voice that made me drop the subject. It must've been a touchy subject. If anything, I should've known better...

And then I noticed how Ryuu kept flashing looks elsewhere. I followed his faze and blinked in surprise. It was Mina. I smiled to myself: that was cute. Ryuu crushing on someone already even though he'd been here for so little time. I blushed.

"You look funny when you blush."

Aggravated, I lightly punched his arm, "Shut up."

He chuckled, "What, am I getting to you? Too charming?"

"Please, no. Not in the very least!"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say. But Ren,"

"Hm?"

"You really are a bad liar."

I whipped around to avoid giving him the satisfaction of my red face, "You're an idiot."

After several more hours of similar conversation and Ryuu repeatedly looking at Mina, school finally ended and I was released from Ryuu's presence. I had noticed that throughout the day, Mina had been looking at me less and less and although she never relaxed with Hiei, she stopped looking at him as if he were about to bite her head off. Hopefully she'd let herself imagine that what happened yesterday had been some kind of hallucination on her part.

It'd been a better day than expected. At lunch, I'd still made Hiei and I bentos and on a whim I forced him up to the roof. When he'd asked me why I'd brought us there, I hadn't really known what to say. I just knew that I wanted to escape Ryuu for a while. I'm pretty sure Hiei was pleased to be away from Mina too.

On our way out, Ryuu waved at me and I waved slightly back, refusing to meet his eye, scared I'd only go red again and only add to his inflating ego.

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya took his time to meet the twins. He casually strolled down the halls, oblivious to the intense stares of girls who'd stayed after school for various activities. He was smirking to himself, replaying his time with Ren today in his head like a movie.

He was pleased with how smoothly things had gone. She had no idea of who he really was. She'd ended up his partner and she'd even seemed to warm up to him a little. _Even literally_, he thought and chuckled. He could see Ren's red, annoyed face right now.

Exiting the building, he hummed a tuneless melody and hurried away from the campus. After a bit, he could see the yellow tape and the turned over tree in the near distance where he'd first met Ren. He gritted his teeth, recalling how Kurama had made an absolute mockery of him, but he took satisfaction in remembering how he'd also injured and scratched up the fox demon as well.

He walked around the mess Minoru had created with Hiei that first night. The humans had been baffled when they'd found the destroyed segment of the park, and even more when they'd found the mini-craters created by yours-truly. They'd deemed that the spot of land had succumbed to some weather disaster which didn't even make sense and had taped the ripped up section closed.

Tatsuya traveled deeper into the park, eventually coming to an open clearing that opened all around in multiple paths. Walking straight ahead, he stopped in the middle and held out his hand, closing his eyes in concentration. It began to glow and he opened his eyes. A bit to his left, there was a patch of forest that had begun to glow. Grinning, Tatsuya dropped his hand and walked towards the spot.

Stopping in front, he put his hand out again and it was stopped by an invisible wall. He proceeded to mumble an incoherent stream of words and then it wasn't a grove of trees anymore. A black door towered over him and with a certain knocking pattern, opened.

Stepping through, he left the park behind him, instead entering a dark corridor. The door instantly disappeared when he'd fully entered.

"Home sweet home," he snorted softly to himself. Luckily, he wasn't there to visit Asami today. He proceeded down a complicated series of halls then, knowing the entire layout by heart. After all, he _had_ lived there most of his life. He finally stopped at a door and went inside the room.

Taking a few steps in, he was immediately surrounded by loud buzzing. Glass vessels lined the walls and behind them, hundreds of thousands of purple insects pressed against the surface, squirming and trying to escape their prison.

"What took you so long?" Kuro stood in the center of the room, his enormous scythe rested in Shiro's lap who was perched against her brother's legs. Tatsuya smirked.

"What does it matter? I'm here aren't I?" he said.

"Whatever. I don't care. So how'd today go?" Kuro asked.

"Better. I'm making progress."

"Good for you buddy."

~.~.~.~.~.

Like before, Hiei sat at the bar while I went around waiting my tables. I felt bad for making him do this so much lately, but there was no way I could get food if I lost the money. I also felt bad for the bartender, a sweet man in his fifties, because when he tried approaching Hiei only to inquire if he wanted anything, Hiei glared nastily at him. He would withdraw quickly, pale-faced. I sighed. The poor man was only doing his job. I would've gone over to scold Hiei, but tonight was especially busy with more than two waitresses gone because of cases of lethargy. I'd instantly thought of the ES; it was true that both girls were young and below 21.

Eventually I was able to settle into the chaos and things became easier to manage. The sliding doors at the front of the room slid open and closed regularly and it gradually faded into the background amid all the voices. At one point, there was a pause of customers and I stood by Hiei, taking a mini-well earned break.

He eyed me, smirking, "Having trouble?"

"Just a bit," I knocked on my shoulders, tired, "But, hey, I was wondering if you had an preference for dinner to-"

"Wow Yuki, this is such a cute place."

"Isn't it? I found it while shopping down here last weekend. Come on Mina, we can just seat ourselves." I turned around in horror and disbelief. There stood Mina and another girl (Yuki she'd said?) happily chatting and walking over to an empty table.

I grabbed one of the bar's menus and yanked it in front of Hiei and I, pulling him down with me.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed, but I only shushed him.

"Quiet! Didn't you see her?"

"Who?"

"Mina! What do we do? She only started dropping her suspicion of us today- I don't want her to think about it anymore."

Before Hiei could reply though, my wrist was suddenly grabbed and I was pulled away. The manager lady growled at me.

"Ren! What do you think you're doing? We barely have anyone in for work as it is! If you keep conversing with that boyfriend of yours I'm going to have to ask if he not return."

"He's not my boyfriend!" I protested sharply, but she'd already left. I just couldn't win.

Slapping on a twitching grin and feeling my face begin to glow, I forced my way over to them. I turned redder when Mina's eyes widened. This was going to be painful.

"Hello, I'll be your waitress for tonight. May I recommend our special?"

~.~.~.~.~.

My face actually hurt from all of my wide smiles, but my missions was going well: Mina was laughing and chattering away with Yuki, her face free of any possible worry. I sighed in relief and then slipped in an unnoticed glare towards Hiei. Despite all my silent pleas for help and desperate looks, he'd ignored them all.

It was near closing time now though and they were the last ones in the entire pub. I had to knock on their table and even clear my throat a couple of time, since they were so absorbed in their conversation, before they looked up.

"I'm sorry, but we're closing now."

Yuki glanced at her wrist watch and lightly gasped, "Oh you're right! We're sorry, we didn't even notice. Can we have our bill please?"

I already had it with me. Yuki paid the balance and tipped me generously. Touched, I bowed in gratitude. She waved me off, smiling. She turned to Mina .

"Ready to go?"

Mina hesitated, "Actually, since I'm here, I need to ask Ren something. For school," she added.

_She did?_ I looked at her nervously.

Yuki frowned, "Oh, I didn't know you knew each other. But if it's quick, I can wait."

Mina just smiled and forced a laugh, "No, it's alright. I know you have a test to study for tomorrow, so don't let me hold you up. You can go ahead and go home, mine's in walking distance."

Yuki shrugged, flicked her hair and left the pub, waving goodbye.

Mina, Hiei, and I were the only ones in the room now. I clutched the paid bill tightly.

"So you had to ask me about school work Mina?"

She refused to meet my gaze, "Sorry, that was a lie."

I bit my lip. I'd figured as much.

"Is there somewhere I can talk to you privately?" she gestured around us. Then her eyes briefly swept the room and she jumped when she noticed Hiei for the first time, who'd chosen only now to make himself known. She didn't say a word as Hiei walked up to us.

"Meet us around the back in five minutes. Then we will discuss this," he said.

Mina didn't move, only staring at Hiei with wide eyes. He growled.

"Well?"

She snapped out of her daze, nodded rapidly and sped out of the restaurant.

"Come on, you're done now aren't you?" Hiei said.

"Yeah, but what do you think you're doing?" I asked.

"It was inevitable. I could tell she'd wanted to say something to me all day."

"...ok. But what exactly are we going to tell her?"

To my horror, Hiei popped his knuckles, "We'll have to force her to forget since we don't have the luxury of manipulating her memory like Koenma can. I'll do it right this time."

"No you're not!" I was about to lunge for Hiei's arm, but we both froze, startled, when the manager suddenly entered holding a very familiar looking box.

"Ren, I have another leftover!" she eyed Hiei who'd gone tense and was staring at the box.

"I'm serious about him Ren. If he keeps distracting you during work..."

"I know manager." I mumbled lamely. Hiei cast me a side-long glance.

"Well don't eat it all at once!" she dropped the box into my hands and as quick as she had come, she was gone.

Alone again, we stared at the box in my hands. I looked at Hiei who immediately turned away. An impish grin spread across my face.

"Or..." I drawled, slowly inching towards the trashcan, making sure he knew exactly what I was doing, "we can just talk things out and convince her that she imagined the whole thing."

Hiei's lips pulled back revealing fangs, but I wasn't worried. I had the power in this argument.

"So we're doing this my way?" I asked innocently. Hiei growled dangerously, but I knew I'd won.

"Hn."

Instantly brightening with my triumph, I readjusted my hold on the cake box and followed Hiei, who was cursing under his breath.

~.~.~.~.~.

As instructed, Mina was waiting. She looked small and anxious in the dim light and I felt a little sorry for her. If I were her, I'd probably feel the exact same way, especially if I was about to be confronted by Hiei.

She watched us warily and my fingers got slippery so that I almost lost my grip on the cake. Hiei snapped at me to be more careful.

"So?" Hiei didn't waste time or his breath. Mina shifted uncomfortably.

"It's just... yesterday I woke up in the nurse's office and he told me that you two had brought me in. I have a fuzzy memory of you guys with me before I passed out and I remember Hiei..." she trailed off, her eyes growing huge with fear and she stumbled backwards.

"Mina! What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

Trembling, she raised a shaky finger and we spun around, only to come face to face with a pair of silver eyes. We both jumped back in surprise, but the eyes vanished. An eerie giggle echoed around us. It sounded like a little girl.

"What's going on?" cried Mina. She crawled over to us and hugged my leg as if I could protect her. Which I knew I couldn't.

"Hiei do you think it's after us?" I asked fearfully, Hiei stood with his back against me, fully alert.

"Yeah."

"Great," I squeaked.

The giggle became louder and surrounded us. My leg was losing circulation and I felt it become damp with tears. Mina wasn't going to keep calm much longer.

"Hello. Would you like to play?"

I muffled a scream: the white girl had appeared from nowhere. She clutched a dirty, stuffed bear. Her pink-silver hair flowed about her in a slight breeze and her eyes were like empty, cold diamonds. She was smiling softly.

Mina screamed, "What the heck is that _thing?_ It's a demon! A demon- get away! Please spare me!" she began to sob and I grew even more scared, alarmed by Mina's hysteria.

I looked at Hiei in panic, "What's wrong with her?"

"She must be seeing her true form."

"True form?" I looked at the little girl again who stood completely still, always smiling, "I don't see anything."

Hiei stared at her disbelief, "Don't you have your ring?"

"I left it at home..."

Hiei cursed and crouched, "What's the point of having it if you're not going to use it! But she's not an ordinary demon. This one's dangerous! She's a shadow demon- a dream!"

The little white girl cocked her head to the side, "That's right. How did you know?" Her voice was soft, melodic, but also chilly and hallow. I swallowed.

"And with a dream, the nightmare... Ren, you must get that girl away and protect her. I'll deal with this one."

_Protect her? I couldn't do that._

"What? You can't do this alone! You don't have any powers, how can you possibly do anything?"

"Enough! Go!" he barked.

I hesitated, torn. Even if I did try to get away it wasn't like I could go far because the bond would restrain me. And if I left Hiei by himself, he'd definitely be killed. Last time, it'd been a close call _with_ his powers. What did he expect to be able to accomplish without them? _What do I do?_

I cried out in frustration, thrusting away the forgotten pastry box and reached out to grip Mina's arm, "Come on Mina, you need to get up. I need to get you somewhere safe,"

But as soon as I'd managed to get her up. Mina's legs buckled and I staggered. She'd become a dead weight and when I looked at her face, I flinched. She had a tortured expression and her eyes were wide and frozen in terror.

I started lugging her towards the pub. Inside would have to do, it was the best option. But when I looked back up between pants, I gasped.

"Hiei behind you!"

From the shadows, a figure was emerging: another child, a little boy, but completely black, a paradox to the girl. He pulled something from the shadows. A scythe. Its blade flashed wickedly in the light as he swung forward, the tip sailing down to plunge into Hiei's back.

Hiei's demonic powers might've been gone, but he still had faster and stronger than average speed and strength, and he whipped around and flipped to the side just as the blade came sailing down but instead of just missing, there was a loud ripping noise, like someone tearing paper. Left in the place where Hiei had just been standing was a crescent shaped blackness hanging in mid-air. After a few seconds, it faded.

The boy sighed, "Oh come on... that wasn't fair. Look, all we want is the girl, we don't want you two." he swung his enormous scythe over his shoulder as easily as if he were holding a twig.

He snorted cockily, "It's nice to see you again Hiei, but you," he looked at me, "The name is Kuro and that's my sister Shiro. Like I said, we're here to take her since you guys interrupted us yesterday." He pointed to the now unconscious Mina in my arms, whom I protectively tightened my hold on.

"What do you want with the girl Kuro? She's a mere human." Hiei spat at him, watching Kuro and Shiro's every movement.

"Honestly I'm not completely sure, but there's something about this girl that Asami wants." he fingered a red mark on his neck, "She's probably the right one, too. The fact that she can see our true forms is a huge sign."

"Brother, " Shiro placed a hand on Kuro's arm, "You're telling them too much."

"Am I? Oh well. They'll did sometime later anyways so I don't see any problem, Asami never includes me in completely, but she did say that we're not supposed to kill you two. But she never mentioned any specifics and last I checked, seriously maimed doesn't necessarily mean dead." Kuro said cheerfully.

This was the second time it was mentioned that Asami was interested in us for some reason. I was terrified.

Hiei chuckled darkly, "You know you might want to take your sister's advice and stop talking. Or are you an idiot?"

"You better watch what you say shrimp," and he stepped backwards and dissolved into shadows. I looked around wildly and an echo erupted around us; it was Kuro.

"You were right Hiei. I'm a Nightmare, a demon of darkness. I can travel through the shadows, so watch your back." Just as his last word rang out, Hiei ran forward as Kuro leapt from a brick wall, swinging his weapon. Another black crescent was created until it swallowed itself again. Kuro stroked the blade.

"You see, as a master of darkness, my scythe can cut through light itself and when it does, it opens a temporary gateway to an empty dimension of nothing. If it ever hits you, you'll be trapped in this space until I choose to free you. Although I have been known to be forgetful..."

Hiei and Shiro were right. This guy _was _talking too much. He was practically giving us tons of information that we could use to our advantage. Or maybe he didn't mind saying any of this because we wouldn't stand a chance anyways.

But what I didn't notice, since I was consumed with Kuro's attacks against Hiei, was that Shiro was now approaching me with her arm outstretched. She was giggling again.

Then I noticed something was off. The way Kuro was attacking- each of his attacks were slow and sloppy which didn't make sense. Before, he'd been holding it so easily. My eyes widened. _He's _not _trying to hit Hiei. It's a distraction!_

I whirled to the side. Shiro's eyes sparkled blood red, but they were different- they were bulging and filled with an insanity that me unable to breathe. Her hand was about to touch me and I couldn't move fast enough to get away. Her dead-like fingers grabbed my arm and I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a scream tear its way up my throat.

And then there was a violent screech, a high-pitch wail. At first I thought it was me, but then I saw Shiro was the one screaming so horribly. She'd immediately released my arm and clutched it to her chest. Her once pale hand was smoking slightly with black and red burns that were slowly spreading.

In a wild fit, she lunged for me again. I screamed in pain when her talons dug into my arms, but the pain was forgotten as I found myself looking at her _true_ form.

She looked the same, but at the same time she was a disgusting _thing_ that was twisted and unreal, practically oozing evil. Just looking at it, I broke out in a cold sweat and my insides churned with nausea and horror. But as soon as she grabbed me, she let go again, succumbing to another wave of burns.

"Shiro! What's wrong with you?" Kuro yelled, forgetting Hiei and rushing over to his sister who was desperately trying to pull herself up again.

"Leave me be," Shiro screeched and her words were like knives that pierced through me. Before Kuro could grab her, Shiro took a single step forward and suddenly she was in front of me. I toppled back, Mina falling with me. The breath was knocked from me and I could see Shiro stretching a hand to Mina's sleeping face.

"No, leave her alone," I cried weakly. Shiro looked down on me with her empty, colorful gaze and swung out a leg. It hooked my stomach and I saw red, my stomach erupting in a horrible pain.

_No..._ I was unable to move and I could only watch with fuzzy vision on how Shiro grabbed Mina's face. She didn't burn this time, Mina's eyes snapped open and I watched as her eyes reflected things being streamed into her head.

Hiei charged Shiro and was able to push her away, where she was caught by Kuro. He bent down next to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Mina..." I muttered. The pain was subsiding to a deep ache and I weakly picked myself up to my knees. I coughed again and something splattered on my hand. Blood. The sight made my head spin and I felt sick.

I glanced at Mina where Hiei was examining her. Her eyes were wide and she was breathing erratically. She was crying and whimpering and... _laughing_. Although Hiei looked directly into her eyes, it was obvious that Mina wasn't seeing him at all. My heart twisted painfully.

"It's not her."

The soft coo of Shiro's voice made Hiei and I look up. Kuro held her in his arms, running his hands over her burns, where his hand passed, the skin began to heal.

"Are you sure? She even has the sight." Kuro asked earnestly.

"It's not her," Shiro repeated and she nodded, closing her eyes.

"Hiei!"

I knew that voice, I was able to think and there was Yusuke and Kuwabara sprinting towards us.

"Damn it." Kuro hissed. He tucked his unconscious sister in his arm and gripping the base of the scythe, sliced the air behind him.

"Oh no you don't!" cried Yusuke. He leapt over us, holding both arms in front of him, his right a finger gun.

"Spirit gun!" Blue light burst from the tip of his fingers and I watched in shocked amazement as it shot into the black crescent as Kuro jumped backwards into it. I couldn't tell if he had gotten him.

"Ren, are you ok?" A smaller body was hovering over me and I could feel a slight pressure against my stomach. The ache faded and I could breathe easier. Yukina spared me a worried look.

I grimaced at the taste of iron in my mouth, "I think I'll be fine. But what about her?"

She nodded and went to Mina, splaying her hands over her face.

Hiei crouched beside me, unharmed, "I told you to leave."

"I couldn't."

"Hn. How did that work out for you?"

"..."

I didn't feel like arguing because I didn't have the energy and I knew he'd win anyways. Yusuke and Kuwabara approached us.

"Are you guys ok?" asked Yusuke.

I accepted Yusuke's outstretched hand, allowing him to pull me up although my legs were shaky.

"It's a good thing we came when we did or you'd be minced meat! I thought you were tougher then that Hiei!" Kuwabara boasted. Hiei smacked him and they engaged in a fierce battle of insults while I watched Yukina. Mina wasn't shaking anymore and if I didn't know any better, she could've just been asleep.

A wave of relief swelled inside of me, and then my vision wavered and I swayed on my feet. I landed against something warm and a pair of arms grabbed me. I immediately felt tingling waves course through my body. Gasping, I whirled around to face Hiei's bewildered eyes which reflected my own. That hadn't been the usual shock, but a pleasant warmth. I'd torn away from him in surprise rather than pain.

"Did you _feel _that?" I said breathlessly.

He nodded slowly, "Yeah."

"Ren, let me look at your arms." Yukina called from the side. I bit my lip looking between Hiei and Yukina, and after a head nudge in her direction from Hiei, I silently answered her summons.

"Well aren't you two lucky ducks." Yusuke grinned.

I cracked a smile despite the slight stinging in my arms as Yukina disinfected the talon cuts, "Yeah."

Yukina nodded, "If we'd gotten here any later, it might've been too late. I did all I could for the other girl, but those demons must've done something telepathically because she had no physical wound."

Hiei crossed his arms, "Those were a pair of shadow demons. A Dream and a Nightmare, one not able to exist without the other. It looks like the Dream didn't quite finish her work. Dreams practice the art of illusion and she must've cast an illusion on Mina. However the fact that it's not anymore means that it hadn't been fully casted. Only a Dream can take away an illusion once it's casted it."

"Will she be alright?" I worried, holding her cold hand.

"I don't know."

Yusuke said, "I think we should get this girl someplace safe and then you two can tell us how you got into the mess in the first place."

* * *

><p>Sorry this one was a bit short : but have a Happy Fourth of July! XD Hope you guys have a great one!

**Please review!** And stick around for the new chapter next week, around wednesday! I'm SO excited for it because I'll finally have passed the point from where I left off in the orginal! :DDD

Love InuChimera7410


	8. The Evil Grandma

As promised, I updated today! Even if I was cutting it a little close xP It was because I was at a camp since Sunday. The fact that we came back today was great! Can't wait to hear from ya'll! :3

Thanks for the reviews, faves, and alerts! It's honestly you guys that keep me going ;A; They make me so happy and motivated!

**no name 128: **OMG. If you drew them, I would totally love you FOREVER! xD And if you did, I'd have to do something special for you or something! :D But I'm glad you liked it!

**kmgd14: **:') After I read your review, I wanted to cry with joy! Thank you so much for the nice review :D I try my best to keep them all IC... I'm really glad I can do at least that :)

**Springflowerangel: **Haha :D Thanks for the review and the wishes! :D Hope you enjoy this one c:

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**Tay: **Yeah, haha, I was impressed with myself that I was able to get those chapters up relatively faster than my others! :D Hope you enjoy the brand-spankin'-newness ;D Lol :3 Thanks for the birthday wish too! c:

Chapter 8: The Evil Grandma and An Act of Random Kindness

I roamed down the corridor and found myself approaching a screen door. I didn't recognize where I was, but there was a strong part of me that felt like I'd been here, like I'd walked down this path a thousand times before. I stared straight ahead, but I could see the wooden screen doors lined on both sides- the wood was chipped and faded around the frames.

Heavy cloth swished around my ankles and my bare feet hit the floor with soft slaps, each step making the floorboards creak and groan under my weight. It was like walking through a hazy dream.

Reaching the end of the hall, I grasped the edge of the door- I tried to gasp harshly, but no sound came out. Panic quickly rose up after I realized nothing would come from my lips, but what had made me react in the first place was the fact that in the few seconds that my hand had held onto the door... it hadn't been _my _hand.

I tried to stop and put my feet firmly down, but my body kept moving forward. I had no power to move. I attempted to speak again, try and wheeze out at least a breath, make some sort of noise. Nothing.

My head was spinning and I felt completely out of control. There was no other feeling like it- not being able to move your own self, not able to do anything. I wanted to scream, but of course no sound would've come out anyways.

When I moved out from the doorway, I stepped down into a beautiful moonlit garden, a hot spring's steam crawling along the pool's smooth surface several feet away. I trailed towards it, slowly.

The stars twinkled beautifully and I couldn't help but admire them, feeling very confused at the same time. Where I lived, the stars were usually hidden and I don't even remember seeing so many at once. The hot spring alone proved that I wasn't anywhere near where I lived, but this just emphasized that concern.

With a jolt, I suddenly comprehended that my hands were beginning to pull around the robe to strip it off. Flustered and self-conscious, I removed the kimono I'd been wearing and felt severely embarrassed. I had to force myself to relax- no one was in sight; it would be ok. I shivered as the night's breeze skimmed bare skin. I knelt beside the hot spring, completely naked and awfully vulnerable.

I dipped a toe in and a sound did come out, a giggle, but the sound was completely foreign to me, and I gradually eased myself into the water.

I tried to catch glimpses of my reflection as I waded around the pool, but the ripples wouldn't settle and the steam made it all the harder to see clearly. The night air was eerily quiet except for the occasional rustle of nature and my body began to relax, sore muscles loosening and relieving themselves. I laid still for several moments, then blinked, caught off guard when her vision became muggy, like her eyes had been blanketed in a sheet of fog. It must have been the hot spring: although I've never been to one myself, I knew that you could get dizzy from the heat if you stayed in one too long.

Unexpectedly, I submerged, allowing my hair to flow around me. Underwater, I could feel my conscience falling into thought. It wasn't _my _conscience though, but someone else's. It was an annoying buzz in the back of my head, as if my mind and something else were only being held at bay from the other by a thin, translucent piece of paper.

It was strange, somewhat being able to sense this girl's thoughts and feelings- it was a lot like Hiei and I's bond, but it still felt different.

I'm not sure how long I stayed under and I wondered exactly how long she could hold her breath, and after a while I began to worry- if this girl had passed out and drowned, would I die too? Or would I just be trapped like this forever? I was only able to relax when my eyes finally blinked open and I propelled myself upwards.

I broke the surface, disturbing the smooth water and creating a new wave of ripples.

I swung the hair from my eyes, but an abrupt wave of dizziness swept over me. I'd been in too long at this point. I was relieved when I began pulling towards the edge- I needed to get out quickly or "I" could pass out!

_Rustle._

The hair on the back of my neck stood straight out and I tensed.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Although I knew I was in a different body, the voice still caught me off guard. It was so familiar though, I know I'd heard it before...

My heart hammered, eyes flicking wildly, trying to find the source of the sound. My vision was beginning to swim out of focus and I swayed slightly. There was another rustle and I was positive it wasn't any type of small animal or the wind- someone broke the silence with a loud yelp.

I screamed, jumping away in surprise, reflexively flinging my arms around my chest.

"Kya!" A shrill squeak escaped my mouth when a man suddenly appeared, rolling down from the trees and down the slope that led directly to the spring. He landed in an ungraceful sprawl flat on his face. I was frozen, the blood draining from my face. Waves of emotion rolled through me: horror, fear, embarrassment, shock. The light headedness was starting to overwhelm me.

The man attempted to get back up, but slipped and only looked at me with an extremely beet red face. The night's darkness and the shadows of the tree hid most of his features. He stammered quickly, the words vomiting from his mouth.

"I'm so sorry! Please forgive me. It was an accident, I swear! I wasn't spying or peeping, I was just on the crossing and slipped down the hill-! Please spare me! Please- wa- wah! Miss!"

The entire world tipped and I was barely able to notice the man dashing towards me while I plunged sideways into the water. In a fit of bubbles, it all turned black.

~.~.~.~.~

I chewed the end of my pencil thoughtful, mulling over my dream from last night. _It had felt so real..._ I could still remember everything almost perfectly.

I looked at Hiei's empty seat with a frown. He hadn't come with me today. Yesterday, once we'd gotten home, we had found that the bond had stretched even more to where I could be in the apartment while he could be downstairs and quite a bit away. It seemed that every day we could keep going further apart, but with the distance, I could tell that our link was somehow weakening. It was strongest when we were next to each other, like a reception service.

A few days ago, after that other near-death experience (which I've been doing a lot of lately), I panicked and insisted on taking Mina to the hospital. We probably should have taken her to Kurama or waited for Koenma to show up, but I don't think any of us knew where to find them anyways and I was beyond worried about her, so I did the first thing that made sense to me. But thinking about it now, I don't even know if the doctors could help her. It'd been lucky that Yusuke and the other showed up when they did, or I don't know what else could have happened.

Hiei had been able to go with Kurama and Botan to hunt for more leads around our school. Especially now, since he had more freedom from the bond to do it. I'd wanted to go with them since I considered myself a part of this too now, but Botan had kindly suggested that I stay in class so I could keep an eye out for leads there, but I got her message: I would just slow them down. I was useless to them.

Koenma never did show up that night so Hiei and I hadn't been able to learn why the bond didn't feel the same anymore. I'd experimented in touching him again and when I did, the same unfamiliar feeling flowed throughout my being with a warm shock that coursed through my blood and reached all the way down to my toes. Even though it still hurt, it wasn't as painfully electric-like as before.

Every now and then, the bond would glow and I'd tense, scared that someone would suddenly see it and there'd be chaos, but then I'd remember that normal people couldn't see it. However, when it had first lit up this morning in class I'd heard a small gasp, a sharp and abrupt intake of breath, and I whipped around in alarm.

_Someone saw it?_

But there was only Ryuu staring straight ahead. When he noticed me, he met my gaze and flashed me a grin. Biting the inside of my cheek, I steered back around, annoyed, but relieved.

~.~.~.~.~

The bell rang for lunch and the room was filled with the sound of chairs scraping across the floor all at once. However, I stayed in my chair, staring at door and frowning. Hiei hadn't come back yet. It made me worried, but I could only hope that they had just found something and were alright.

My fingers twitched atop the table in a restless drumming. But what if they had run into those demons again? Tatsuya, Kuro, and Shiro? I shuddered.

_That does it! I can't just sit here_! I stood up abruptly ready to charge out of the room, but something held my arm, holding me back. My heart already racing from worry, I shrieked and automatically swung my free hand. But my attacker was quicker and my hand was grabbed in mid-air; I found myself looking into cool green eyes.

"Woah there Ren. Relax, it's just me. What's go t you so on edge?" Ryuu chuckled. My cheeks burned.

Embarrassed, I muttered a quick apology, glancing back at the door.

"Hm... don't worry about it. Anyways, where are you going? Don't you want to have lunch with me today?" he pouted.

"What?" For the past few days, Ryuu had been asking if he could join Hiei and I for lunch, but Hiei had kept giving him the cold shoulder and Ryuu would never end up joining us. It really made me wonder why he kept trying. But now that Hiei wasn't here to say no... I shook my head. I had just been about to go looking for Hiei!

"Sorry Ryuu, maybe some other time?" I apologized. I tried to make my way towards the door, but then I realized that he was still holding my hand. I pried it away as he grinned.

"Oh come on- you know, it's not easy getting turned down several times in a row."

I blinked in surprise, "But that was because-"

"Look, I'm just messing with you, but since your boyfriend isn't here, why don't you just have lunch with me today?" he pursued.

I blushed darkly, "Hiei isn't my boyfriend!"

Ryuu rolled his eys, "Regardless, are you needed somewhere right now then?"

My annoyance died down and I halted, my face dropping. He... had a point. Even if I did manage to find them, which it wasn't guaranteed that I even would, I'd probably just slow them down. They'd already hinted at it once.

"No, I guess not..." I mumbled dejectedly.

"That settles it then. Come on," he smiled, but just as I was giving in, I began to sense a prickling feeling on the back of my neck and glanced to the side. Across the room, a small concentrated group of girls were glaring at me. _Hiei would be impressed..._

"Except if I did, I don't think I'd live to see another day. It doesn't look like your fan club really likes me that much," a small grin worked its way onto my face.

Ryuu arched an eyebrow, "Why don't they like you?"

For someone who was somewhat cocky and as flirty as him, he must not have known a lot. And it's not like I was trying to get in their way or anything- I was innocent!

Lowering my head, I said, "Well from what it looks like, I think they're looking at me as some kind of threat."

He twitched and then a stupid-like grin crossed his face and he barked out a laugh, "Ha! A threat? You couldn't even snap a twig if you wanted to." he snorted.

I didn't know whether to be insulted or amazed. But when I opened my mouth, instead of words a large guffaw came out. This guy was_ dense_! I thought of Hiei and couldn't stop the wide smile that was spreading across my face. Ryuu and he were strangely similar, in a way.

Snickering and wiping a small tear from the corner of my eye, I grinned at Ryuu who was staring at me as if I'd grown two heads.

"Ok then." I said, "If you want to have lunch together, fine, but not here."

He smiled wryly, although I could tell he was a bit confused, "Find then."

This way I might be able to run into Hiei and the other and I would have a legitimate excuse for it. Even if I couldn't help, I still wanted to know how things were going if I could find out.

The next thing I knew, we were outside the building and heading for one of the large trees by the windows.

"Hey, where are we going?" Ryuu asked.

"I'm just heading for-" after taking a couple of steps, my wrist was tugged at and it began glowing. I couldn't walk any further, "for here! Yup, here is just fine. It's nice and shady." I said cheerily. It would do, but curiously my eyes climbed up the lighted chord. It stretched up until I saw it disappear over the roof. I frowned and was almost tempted to go back but Ryuu had already settled and was calling me down. I couldn't just go to them now.

I had to adjust myself in a specific position so that my arm wasn't just sticking up when I sat down. However, I couldn't get my hand all the way down and it slightly hovered by my side. Frustrated, I yanked on the line and to my surprise, it slackened quite a bit so I was able to rest my hand comfortably.

Although it was faint, I could still feel Hiei's jolt of surprise. I wonder if I'd tripped him or anything... the thought made me feel a little smug. It would serve him right for leaving me behind.

Once we'd been settled, an awkward silence followed. From behind my bento, I stared at Ryuu's face. He was looking in the distance, his gaze unfocused as if in deep thought; he wasn't even eating. But on further inspection, it didn't look like he had any food at all.

"Where's your lunch?" I asked quizzically.

He snapped back to focus and seemed confused for a moment before a shadow of understanding passed over his face.

"I'm not hungry."

"What?" I said, "Then what was the point of eating lunch together?"

"You're still harassing me about that? If you really hadn't wanted to, you could've said no."

I flushed, "Not that's not what I meant!"

He blew a raspberry at me and laid on his back, "Ok, well if you must know, I wanted to get to know you."

It honestly caught me off guard, him having it said so bluntly. I'm glad we were in the shade- this was he couldn't see my flush getting brighter. _I swear every time I'm near this guy, I become some kind of tomato!_

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked. It was too bad I wasn't linked up to his head like I was with Hiei; I would have loved to know what could possibly be going through his head right now. Most likely a bunch of squirrels.

"I'm just," Ryuu tapped his head, thinking, "curious." He grinned at me.

I smirked. It's not like there was anything special going on with my circumstances. Hiei flashed through my mind... _Wait, I take that back._

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

Ryuu seemed pleasantly surprised as if something had gone right and thought for a moment, "I guess we'll start with... home life?" he looked at me expectantly, but I couldn't help but be surprised at his random seriousness. Not sure what I was supposed to say, I just began talking.

"For starters, when I go home it's very," I paused, "chaotic. Yes, chaotic is the word."

"Why?" Ryuu asked.

"Lately there just _never_ seems to be a dull moment." That's all he was getting from me about that- I didn't want to accidentally expose any of my living situation with Hiei or about anything that was going on back at home; I refused or just slipped around other related questions.

"Fine, how about family?" he continued.

"I have an uncle." I said, thinking about Mako and wondering where he could be now.

Ryuu looked surprised, "Just an uncle? What about parents?" My chest tightened. We were getting into a touchy subject.

"My mother died when I was little, I don't know anything about my dad," I gently pulled my ribbon out of my hair and stroked it thoughtfully as I always did when I thought of my mother, "My uncle says this belonged to her and that it was her favorite ribbon before she...was gone." I roughly rubbed my eyes. I wasn't going to think about this _now._ I couldn't just burst into my life story. But as much as I tried to suppress the feeling down, it didn't sting any less.

Ryuu shifted awkwardly and I felt alarmed and ashamed for telling him what I'd said because I'd just gone and made it uncomfortable again. But when he suddenly placed his hand over mine and when I met his eyes, they were gentle and hinted at no trace of mockery. They were the usual cool, but somehow held a tenderness that had not been there before.

"I never met my parents either. They left me too." Ryuu said in all seriousness.

I looked at him earnestly, my chest even tighter, "I'm sorry- I had no idea!"

He shook his head, "Unfortunately though, I don't have any memento to remember them by." I hastily put my hair back up.

"So who do you live with instead?" I tried to steer away from the subject while remaining casual.

"I suppose I'm on my own." he said nonchalantly.

My eyes widened, "What? There's no one? But... you can't be completely alone right? I mean, at least when you were younger. Didn't you just move here as well?"

An air of anger came over him and his words were bitter, "Well someone _did _take me in and raised me; I work for them now, but if I had a choice, I'd be long gone." And then it looked like he'd just been hit by a truck, raw surprise illuminating his face like he couldn't believe he'd just told me any of that. I couldn't believe he'd told me that either, especially since it reeked of such hatred.

In an effort to make him relax, I quickly said, "Don't worry! I'm not going to tell anyone or anything."

Although the surprise never left his face, he nodded slowly but took to watching me closely with wary eyes. Hoping to get past the little hiccup, I was looking forward to more questions, but Ryuu had gone silent. I didn't know why I had revealed all of that to Ryuu or why he'd revealed what he did to me. He wasn't a close friend, more stranger if anything, and I'd only known him for a couple of days. It really didn't make sense at all, but I had to admit that it was really nice to have found a person I could relate to.

Looking down at my lunch, I had an idea that brought a smile to my face. I'd taken to making two lunches, one for Hiei and another for myself, but since Hiei wasn't here to eat his…

"Hey Ryuu," I smiled kindly when he looked at me. I held out the lunch to him and laughed at his confusion, "Here, you can have this lunch. You must be at least a little hungry."

Ryuu blinked, but took the lunch from me all the same, "Erm thanks."

I laughed, "Sure."

~.~.~.~.~

"Hey, isn't that Ren? And the new student?" Botan pointed over the side of the building. Kurama joined her, but Hiei remained where he was.

"Indeed it is. Why, it looks like they're about to have lunch together." Said Kurama and then added quietly, "There's something about that boy."

But Botan wasn't listening and glanced at Hiei who she could have sworn just twitched. A mischievous grin slid over her face.

"Hey, did you hear that Hiei? They're having _lunch. Together._ Don't you want to join them?" Botan wouldn't have been to surprised if she suddenly burst into flame with the glare Hiei fixed on her and she backed off, grinning.

Gritting his teeth, he growled, "Frankly, I don't give a damn about what that girl does-" he was cut off sharply when the bond suddenly glowed and he was pulled down hard, getting a face full of gravel.

Botan covered her mouth, trying and failing to stifle a snort of laughter and enormous smile while Kurama had turned away, hiding his own amusement.

It was a good thing that Ren hadn't been there because Hiei's looks could have possibly killed. He stood up slowly, his entire frame shaking with anger, his teeth bared.

_This isn't good, _thought Botan.

~.~.~.~.~

Unfortunately, neither Hiei, Kurama, or Botan showed up for the rest of the day and I was able to talk with Ryuu some more. After you got past some of his layers he wasn't such a bad guy and after our little event at lunch today, some walls had been let down and it was easy to laugh and joke around eachother although it was just as easy to get quite frustrated with him at the same time.

The bell rang and I was relieved to escape the dark glares of Ryuu's menacing fan club. Those girls were evil! For the rest of the day I'd been subjected to stupid pranks like having my chair pulled out from under me before I could sit down, leaving briefly and returning to find my pencils and erases had gone missing, and then during gym my uniform had been placed at the very top of the lockers- with my height, there was no way I could reach them without help. After today, I felt like hurting something. I also found myself wishing that Hiei had been with me, again: those girls definitely wouldn't have done all those things if he had.

But seeing Hiei, Botan, and Kurama outside waiting for me, safe and sound, made me forget all about my bad day. Botan reminded me of a cat the way she was grinning and shooting glances between me, Hiei, and Ryuu who'd walked out with me. It was as if she knew something I didn't. Kurama was smiling softly as usual, but Hiei just wasn't looking at me at all. He refused to even acknowledge me when I said hello.

"Guys, this is Ryuu. Hiei, you already know him." I said being friendly and introducing him.

Kurama slid out a hand in a fluid motion, "A pleasure, I'm Shuichi."

"Yeah, I've heard about you." Ryuu grinned and took Kurama's hand. Although his face didn't change, I saw Kurama tense as if Ryuu's touch had burned him. As casual enough as the brief shake it had been, they hastily released each other.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance, but we really must be going now. Let's be off Botan," Kurama said and made the move to leave. Botan's face became a combination of confusion and disappointment but she didn't question anything out loud. She managed to wink at me and even whisper in my ear, "Careful of Hiei tonight, dear. He's a little… upset." Before joining Kurama, leaving me confused and worried. _Upset? At what?_

I wondered what had made Kurama so uneasy, but I dismissed it. Hiei could fill me in later.

I turned to Ryuu, "I should be going home too. See you later?"

"Actually," Ryuu shook his head, "I wanted to go ahead and walk you home. We started the day together, why not finish it like that?"

"W-walk me home?" I stuttered. I felt a prickle envelop me. Now that Hiei was back right next to me, our bond couldn't be stronger- when his pulse of anger flared out, I felt it crystal clear.

"Yeah, is it a problem?" he asked, cocking his head innocently to the side. _Pulse, pulse. _

"The thing is," yes, it was a problem! I couldn't have him finding out that Hiei and I lived together and it would just be- I blushed. Clearing my throat, I stammered, "You see, I already promised Hiei that he could walk me home!"

_Pulse. Pulse! Pulse!_

I felt the heat of Hiei's red eyes on the back of my neck- _A _little _upset Botan? I think that must have been the understatement of the year!_

Ryuu looked bored, "What are you worried about? You already told me you aren't together," _Pulse!_ "Besides, you don't mind, right Hiei?" he glanced at Hiei with amusement gleaming in his eyes. Hiei gazed back hatefully. _PULSE! PULSE!_

"I don't give a damn!" Hiei snarled and started walking away. I stared at his retreating figure, my jaw dropped, and turned around slowly only to find Ryuu grinning down at me.

"Shall we?"

~.~.~.~.~

In one word, walking home was downright… unpleasant. I was barely able to keep feeble small talk with Ryuu but whenever I tried to include Hiei, he'd just glare are me and refuse to say anything. He was even making an effort to stay away from us and kept far ahead.

It was one of the longest walks home in my short life.

I almost sighed out loud in relief once we'd finally arrived. Hiei immediately began to make his way up. If I didn't think of something soon, Ryuu would find out that we lived together!

"So, Ryuu and _Hiei_," I said loud enough for Hiei to hear, "Thank you for walking me home. You can go now, I'm pretty sure I can make it to the front door myself." _Please catch on Hiei!_ I tried thinking desperately, but it was as if Hiei had stopped off our connection with some kind of stopper.

Ryuu looked at me, then Hiei, then me again and the analytical look came back in his eyes, "You two live together?"

"No!" I squeaked loudly, forcing laughter up although I felt myself begin to pale, "Of course not, don't be ridiculous! We're neighbors." I wanted to slap myself- even if Ryuu was dense, I knew I must be making it even more obvious. I was so stupid!

However- to my surprise- Ryuu accepted the explanation easily, but the smile he flashed at me kept me cold and nervous. His body language conveyed that he believed me, but his eyes did not. But whatever he really thought, he didn't say.

"Anyways, this was a nice walk. Thank you for _allowing_ me to walk you home," he joked and gave me a charming smile, dipping into an exaggerated bow. I smiled in relief and was finally about to let myself relax and give myself a mental pat on the back at keeping the situation in check, but I was not prepared for what he did next, making me leave my pat to come short.

Ryuu swept himself down, grabbed my hand in a fluid motion, and kissed the inside of it. It was only a small peck, but I was so startled that I squealed and ripped my hand free, frozen in surprise. My mind had become a disgusting gob of mush that couldn't form any coherent thoughts. Only a small, unaffected part of my brain sensed the sparks coming dangerously from Hiei.

But Ryuu seemed indifferent and stood back up, smiling at me with his cool green eyes, "That was a small thanks for the lunch today. We should get together some other time, but bye for now." He waved and left, just like that. Only when he was finally out of sight did I begin to unfreeze, but when I turned to Hiei, it was only to discover that he'd already disappeared inside.

~.~.~.~.~

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I found myself staring straight into a pair of mature, brown eyes that were centimeters away, the word 'Jr.' printed right above them, and the annoying sound of a squeaking pacifier filling the air. Koenma smiled and raised a hand in greeting.

"Good morning."

I screamed.

Personally, I think it was a natural reaction. What else was he expecting when I suddenly woke up to find that someone was looking directly in my face while I slept? It had terrified me!

I began to throw things, anything I could chuck and within reaching distance. Small objects and other things sailed through the air in my panic. Koenma yelped, stumbling backwards while trying to protect himself, until a clock hit him smack in the face and he fell backwards. Only then did things really start to sink in. _Oh Kami… I just hit the lord of the Spirit World in the head with an alarm clock. _

I could register the sound of running and then Hiei was at the doorway, followed by Keiko, Yukina, Botan, and Kuwabara, Yusuke and Kurama. The tiny hall became so full of people that someone in the back must've shoved. Losing his balance, Hiei tipped forward, his arms beginning to wave out wildly. As soon as he began to fall, I could see the disaster splaying out before me, and in typical circumstances the whole thing would have been hilarious but I know that he wasn't going to exactly be laughing by the end of this.

Hiei only gained speed as he sailed forward, completely nailing Koenma in the face and with nothing to hold on to, he fell flat on his face. On my wooden floor.

In the dead silence that followed, I took a moment to look out the window and relish at the sight of the beautiful sunrise.

…

It'd probably be the last one I'd ever see.

~.~.~.~.~

Kuwabara and Yusuke wouldn't stop laughing. Still in my pajamas, I silently fumed next to the girls who were trying to calm me down. Koenma was passed out on the couch and Kurama was getting ice in the kitchen with Hiei.

I couldn't stop trembling, "Stop laughing already! It wasn't even that funny." The boys only laughed harder.

"Ah haha! Are you kidding me? That shit was hilarious! You totally just made my day. I can't breathe just thinking about it! Pfft," Yusuke managed to tell me between spasms. Keiko turned around in disgust.

"Yusuke, you're getting on our nerves!" she gripped Yusuke's shirt in her hands, but Kuwabara kept going, rolling onto his back.

"Did you see Koenma's face? And then Hiei just went _dow-!" _Kuwabara choked. Hiei had come from nowhere, his face red and marked from the grooves in the wood where he'd landed, and had severely pressed his foot on top of Kuwabara's stomach.

His whole body radiated anger, "_What was that?"_

Kurama came from behind him, holding two large ice packs and watched the spectacle with a sigh, "Hiei, it won't help anything if you go and end up killing him."

Hiei glared at Kurama, oblivious to Kuwabara who was turning blue in the face, "Whether it would help anything or not is irrelative to me." But nevertheless, Hiei removed his foot and Kuwabara wheezed like a chewed-out toy, Yukina rushing over in cute concern. Hiei ripped one of the packs from Kurama's hand and gingerly pressed it against his face.

"It's amazing how different you are without your demonic powers," Kurama chuckled, ignoring Hiei's snort of reply, "Here Botan- for Koenma," Kurama tossed the other pack to Botan who took it and moved over to Koenma who had his own bump swelling on his head. Now that I had fully woken up, I was feeling guilty.

I tried catching Hiei's eye, but as I'd feared, as soon as I opened my mouth, Hiei sent out an enormous wave of anger towards and I "meeped" under the severe gaze, the word 'sorry' fluttering away in cowardice. I mulled to myself miserably.

It really bothered me that he was so angry. This morning I understood, but he hadn't spoken to me since yesterday. If anything, I was the one who was supposed to be upset! But no, rather than even making an effort to tell me what was wrong, he'd just spent the rest of the night avoiding me, meaning I wasn't even able to get the information of what happened during the day. Now he just had another reason to hate me _more._

From the couch Koenma groaned and we all looked at him. Rising up slowly, he took a minute to get a hold of his bearings before his gaze rested on me. He immediately stabbed a finger towards me, instantly putting me on the spot.

"What the hell was that reaction? All I say is _good morning_ and I'm suddenly assaulted! My head is pounding," he shouted, holding his forehead.

I got angry and retaliated in defense, "I'm sorry! But what did you expect me to do? People don't just appear in front of someone first thing in the morning like that! You scared me half to death! Besides, why were you in my room in the first place?"

"That's not the point!"

"That's _completely _the point!"

Kuwabara cleared his throat, "Now, now children, let's all calm down-"

"No one asked you!" Koenma and I yelled in unison.

Kurama sighed and touched his head, "Can't we all just say sorry and move on with our lives?"

My lips squeezed together into a straight line, and in embarrassment I turned red. Letting the steam roll out of me, I muttered, "Fine."

Koenma harrumphed, which made me want to go over there and do something really nasty, lord of the Spirit World or not.

I exhaled in frustration and pinched the bridge of my nose, "Ok. Let's start over. Why are you all in my apartment again?" They all exchanged glances of confusion with each other.

"But… we told Hiei to tell you that we were coming today." Said Botan.

Hiei shrugged passively, his face wincing, "Must've slipped my mind."

I felt a bubble of satisfaction steadily growing at the sight of his face. If no one was here right now, I would be so giving him-

"Well anyways," said Koenma, "One of the main things I wanted to cover today was to tell you, Ren," he looked at me with a point glare, "and you Hiei, something which might shed some light on your spirit bond situation."

In the back of my mind, I felt a sudden prickle. Hiei was responding positively to that. I found myself becoming hopeful. But beneath my hope, I felt a little… disappointment?

"Ok, so pertaining to the problem at hand, I've been doing some experiments with different pairs and for the most part, the bond would form and eventually dissolve, separating the two connected."

"For the most part? Then what about all the other times?" Hiei growled.

"So you're saying that some people weren't able to be connected?" I added.

"Precisely. And that's when I realized something." Koenma said. He held up one finger from each hand, parallel to each other, "You see, the bond is created from energy which I've mentioned in the past, but it's not just any energy, but a specific type. And once that energy is manifested into a bond, I can manipulate that energy to stretch it in anyway I see fit. For example, when I first introduced this technology to Yusuke, I used it as a cast to tame him."

I caught Yusuke muttering, "Tch, to tame my ass!"

Koenma ignored him, "And then on you and Hiei as a rope."

I nodded- I knew most of this so far.

"Now that energy has to come from somewhere, a particular energy that every living thing has, and is specifically attained from the user or users. That energy is soul energy. In your case, I drew both your and Hiei's soul energy out and hooked them together, forming one big rope between you. Normally, the bond should have faded, at most, a couple of days after it was formed and I had planned on continuing to connect you two as I saw fit, but as we all know, that hasn't been necessary.

"In order for that soul energy to connect two or more beings together – and I concluded this after all my experiments- _all_ energies needed to be, basically, in a synchronized state."

"But didn't we already know that?" Kuwabara said, "Didn't you say something about resonance or what not?"

Koenma nodded, "Yes, it's practically the same thing. Only this time I went deeper into it. And of course my results only left me even _more _confused than I was when I started." Koenma sighed, "To become synchronized, the soul energies need to consist of a similar condition, a similar wave-length of sorts, and these wave-lengths don't need to be anywhere close to being perfectly the same, but only need simple similarities. Granted, the closer matched, the stronger and longer lasting the bond, but still not necessary. As a simple example, energies between people can sync easiest by both of them just being in the same mood. If both are happy, it's likely the bond will form; if both are miserable, same thing. But if one is happy and the other is miserable, then the waves are to out of sync for anything to connect or form."

"So," I drawled, "I guess Hiei and I were synced at the time?"

"Not really. From what I remember, you two shouldn't have been able to sync at all. Tell me, how were you feeling when I was about to place the bond on you?"

"Hm…" it was hard to forget, "I was… terrified."

"Right. And I'm sure we all can guess how Hiei might've been feeling," We glanced at Hiei who scowled.

"Okay then," I said, "Then how did we get connected?"

Koenma sighed, "That's the thing. I have no idea how, but your souls must have synchronized to each other's in some other way- and because of this other way, the bond began to work differently, like how you two can walk further apart everyday, more like a rubber band than a rope. The only other time I've seen it stretch is when I put it on Yusuke. But in order for that to happen, the energy has to round in a circle and connect back with the same energy source. It doesn't make sense."

The little bit of positivity floating in Hiei's mind vanished and I gulped, "Do you mean… we're stuck like this," I hesitated, "forever?"

Koenma gave me a somber, hard look, "I'm sorry. I don't know."

"That's ridiculous! There's no way that this bond can stay on that long. There must be someway." Hiei exclaimed. Koenma jumped behind Kurama who sighed.

"Come on Ren. I-It can't be that bad, right?" Botan added with forced enthusiasm.

"She's right." Supported Keiko. "Didn't he say it stretched? Because since it does that, once it stretches enough it'll be like you're not even connected, right?"

Kuwabara nodded thoughtfully, "That's a good point. But don't worry, I feel your pain. Why, if I ever had to get stuck Hiei like that, it wouldn't matter how far apart we were, it'd still be horrible!"

"Hey Kazuma!" Yukina scolded in her soft way while I forced a pinched smile.

"Thanks."

He laughed heartily, missing my obvious insincerity, "Haha! Don't mention it!"

I smirked when Yusuke gave Kuwabara a well deserved bat on the head. I looked up, only to meet Hiei's gaze- we whipped our heads away.

"I'll keep experimenting and see if anything comes up. I'm trying my best to fix this. Anyways," and so the next couple of hours were again spent on exchanging information on what had happened lately. They focused on Mina for a while, but on the bottom line, not much was accomplished. I couldn't help but notice that Hiei didn't contribute anything, but it wasn't like I was judging since I didn't either, only talking when I was expected to. I'm not sure what he was thinking about, but my own mind was dwelling on everything that had been happening- without realizing it, several weeks had gone by in the blink of an eye.

"Hello? Earth to Ren?" said Keiko, waving a hand in front of my face.

I looked up to see that all eyes were on me and I turned pink, "Sorry, I must've spaced out." Behind me, I heard Hiei 'hn'.

"Anyways," Koenma continued, "So what do you say Ren? We should probably get to Genkai's sooner rather than later- we could definitely use her help."

"Wait- what? Who's Genkai?" I asked, confused.

Botan cocked her head, "Weren't you listening? We just told you!" I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and they all sighed.

Yusuke snorted, "I'll tell you about the evil grandma! She's a puny old hag who's ugly to boot, and she thinks she's all tough and powerful, but she's not. At least, not ever since I got her spirit wave!"

Swept up in his own cockiness, Yusuke started cackling and waving his hand around. I yelped when a mass of blue light began forming in his hand and an image of Tatsuya flashed through me head. Things began shaking and rattling as if an earthquake was taking place. Yusuke began laughing like he was the most awesome thing in the world.

"Yusuke! What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Urameshi that's not just some toy you're playing with!"

"You _idiot!"_

"_Yusuke!_" the light disappeared in an instant, a resounding slap echoing in the air. With the chaos dying down, I only then noticed that I had clutched Hiei's arm in my fear; I peeked around it, assessing the situation. Everything has stopped shaking and Keiko was huffing over a twitching, maybe dead, Yusuke who had an incoherent look on his face A large red mark covered his face- a hand print. I gulped.

Note to self: never make Keiko mad.

She sat down stiffly, huffing, "Yusuke, you're so immature." We all sat in amazed silence and then Botan started laughing, patting Keiko on the back.

"This is why I've always respected you Keiko! You're always the one keeping our dear Yusuke in line!"

I laughed nervously when Hiei noticed that I was still attached to him and he shook me off, giving me a small zap. Grumbling, I rubbed the spot he'd touched.

"ANYWAYS," announced Koenma who was desperately trying to hang on to everyone's attention, "Genkai is a very powerful psychic and we think that she might be able to help us. The only thing I'd ever doubt her on is her judgment: I have no idea what she was thinking when she entrusted Yusuke with her ultimate technique." Everyone agreed.

"How would she be able to help us?" I asked.

"Well for one thing she might be able to help Hiei in a physical therapy of sorts, to help him nurse back some of his lost energy or at least regain his strength. Maybe she could even teach you a few new tricks if you have it in you." explained Koenma.

"I see…" I trailed off, "Where does she live?"

"She lives in a forest surrounded by mountains. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere." said Kuwabara, using his hands to gesture forests and mountains.

Yukina clapped her hands together, "Yes! I've been down here so long, Genkai must be wondering where I am by now. Oh, and Pu too."

Keiko giggled, "That's right, I forgot you lived with Genkai. How is Pu?"

"He's wonderful." Yukina smiled. I was lost. _Pu…?_

Even Hiei stepped forward, looking pleased and determined, "Yes. If Genkai can help me get my powers back, that's more than enough reason to go. I'd leave this minute."

Botan exclaimed excitedly, "Then it's settled! We're all going tomorrow! We'll be staying a couple of days, at the least, of course."

"To-tomorrow? But I haven't even said I was going yet!" I protested, feeling the need to have my say before this is all got out of control.

She looked deflated, "What?"

"It's just that," I said, "I'm not sure I feel completely comfortable just getting up and leaving to go visit someone, a total stranger, and without even telling Mako. He can be back any minute you know."

"I don't see what the problem is." said Hiei, "Just leave a note or something. It'll only be a couple of days."

"It's not that," I said weakly.

He stared me down, his eyes dark, "Then what is it?"

"I just don't want to go!" I couldn't come up with anything better to say! It was true that I felt completely uncomfortable staying at some random old woman's house and for a few days at that. Plus, I had my job to worry about and there was still school. I also wasn't lying when I said Mako could pop up any day- although I had no idea when. I couldn't just drop everything and go.

Kurama touched my shoulder kindly, "How about you just think about it for the night? We understand it's a little too soon to be asking you to trust us this much."

"Trust? No, it's not that…" I sighed, unable to resist his sincerity, "Ok, I'll think about it." I felt guilty knowing that I'd already made up my mind. It just felt wrong of me to lie to Kurama like that.

Koenma sighed, "Alright, I suppose that's all we can ask for now. But we'll need your answer by tomorrow because we should leave as soon as possible."

Hiei was glowering at me with clenched fists, but I had nothing to say to him. I didn't know what else I could do so all I did say was, "Sorry, Hiei."

He snarled, "I don't need your apologies." He turned around and left the room, probably to the bathroom. I sighed and rubbed my face.

(( *** all new! \('o')/ ))

As soon as we heard the door slam, Keiko gave me a weird look, "Is he ok? He seems a lot grouchier than usual."

Botan rested her chin in her hand, "You know, Keiko's right. Could he really have been that upset yesterday…?" she muttered to herself. Hearing her last words, I darted to her side.

"What are you talking about? He didn't speak to me at all yesterday- and he refused to even tell me why! Ugh," I slumped on the ground.

"Now, now I'm sure it's nothing personal," Yukina attempted to comfort me.

"Well actually," Botan grinned slyly and I eyed her warily- she was getting that glint in her eye way too often now for my liking, "I think it's more personal than you might think."

Yukina put a hand to her mouth as if she was stunned and I just felt worse, "That's not helping me feel any better Botan." I mumbled.

"Well what happened after we left?" said Kurama who had just taken an interest in our conversation. I blushed when I noticed that he, Koenma, and Kuwabara had joined our circle. (Yusuke was still out cold on the floor and everyone seemed perfectly content at just leaving him there for now.)

"Um well, Ryuu asked to walk home with us-"

"Who's Ryuu?" asked Keiko.

Botan elbowed Keiko playfully while shooting glances at me, "Apparently the new student in Ren's class."

A look of understanding crossed Keiko's face, "Oh, is he cute?"

I blushed harder, feeling more and more frazzled, "Well, I suppose so-"

"And you said he went home with you and Hiei yesterday?" Kurama pressed. Too embarrassed, I could only nod.

"Hiei obviously doesn't like him which I don't find strange- he seems to hate everyone in our class, but I wish he didn't go around making it so blunt and obvious to them. And then after we got home, he didn't speak to me at all." I looked at them all hopelessly, "Is he just like this with everyone?"

Kuwabara crossed his arms and nodded with a smug look on his face, "Pretty much."

Botan and Keiko had taken to whispering to each other with devious expressions. Kurama looked like he was in deep thought and Yukina was trying to come to Hiei's defense.

"It's true that Hiei has never been one to be in a 'happy' mood. Some of the only times I've ever seen him smile were when he would mock Kuwabara or beat an opponent." Koenma said.

"Maybe Hiei's just going through a little rough patch with everything that's been going on." Yukina said.

"You don't really think it's _that?_" Keiko suddenly gasped with wide eyes. Botan's eyes gleamed excitedly.

"Anything's possible." She grinned.

"What's possible?" I asked. No one had any idea what they were talking about.

But Botan ignored me and spoke quietly in Kurama's ear. I tried to extend my hearing, but I couldn't get anything above a mumble. Kurama withdrew from Botan with a surprised expression himself.

"I doubt it, Botan. Maybe you should ask him yourself." Kurama shook his head in disbelief. I was beginning to wonder if this had all become some elaborate set up just to taunt me.

"Ha! Over my dead body…. Well, actually, maybe I will." Botan crossed her arms, paused, "… I think you should ask him Keiko."

Keiko drew away I surprise, "Me? No way!"

Botan laughed nervously, "What do you think Ren?"

I glared at her annoyed. She was startled.

"What? Don't you think it's at least a little plausible?" Botan exclaimed.

"But I don't even-" _know what you're talking about! _ Was what I was going to say before Keiko cut me off.

"Oh Botan, this is just too crazy to believe!" They started laughing together leaving me to look like a fish the way I gaped at them. I sighed, giving up. I was obviously not going to get anything straight out of them.

Keiko leaned over to Botan and Yukina, "What do you think is wrong with her? It's like she isn't even hearing us anymore."

Botan whispered, "It's alright, she's probably just in denial."

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei closed the apartment door behind him, enjoying the calm breeze. He'd had time to calm down a little, but he couldn't help but still feel furious at Ren. How dare she stop him from going to Genkai's?

"Hiei,"

Hiei turned around. Perched against the wall was Kurama, gazing at him with smiling green eyes. If anything, that just made Hiei more angry than before- he couldn't even sense his damn spirit energy from five feet away!

"What do you want fox?" he said coldly.

"My, my touchy. You know it isn't really Ren's fault about all of this, so there's no reason for you to be so angry with her."

Hiei turned away from him with a 'hn.'

"Who said I was angry at her?" Hiei clipped.

Kurama chuckled, "I'm just saying that you might want to keep in mind that you owe her your life- maybe you should work to be allies rather than constantly being at odds with each other."

Hiei stubbornly crossed his arms, "Is that all you pulled me out here to say?"

"Actually no," Kurama said seriously, "I wanted to discuss that boy with you."

"Boy?" Hiei repeated, "What boy?"

"I believe he introduced himself by the name Ryuu."

Hiei visibly tensed, but Kurama just nodded and spoke on.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who sensed it. The moment we were introduced, I felt that there was something… not right about him. I instantly felt a small pool of spirit energy within him, which the occasional human is bound to have like people such as Kuwabara and that girl Mina, but for this one's, well simply put, it was as if the spirit energy had been tampered with. It only further adds to my suspicions by the fact that Ryuu seems to have been accompanying Ren frequently. I figure that if this boy is truly connected to any of situation at hand, he must've been aware that you and Ren are bound by a connection to each other. As of yet though, I haven't established a reason as to why the enemy might be trying to infiltrate us in this way. But I suspect that there won't be an easy explanation until we find out their main goal."

Kurama glanced at Hiei, "What do you think?"

Hiei only continued staring at Kurama. After several minutes had passed in complete silence other than the occasional cricket in the background, Kurama finally let his puzzlement show.

"Um Hiei?" Kurama asked, confused.

"Kurama…" Hiei said slowly, "What are you _talking_ about?"

Kurama blinked, his thoughts racing a mile a minute, the gears twisting furiously in his head, "You mean … you didn't sense anything wrong with him?"

The complete look of raw surprise and incredulity that Kurama was showing made Hiei instantly leap to the defensive, "W-what! Of course I did, I knew something was wrong with him from the very start!" Hiei quickly proclaimed, thrusting his chin in the air. Somehow, this had become associated with his pride.

But everything was beginning to click in Kurama's head, "So you really _didn't_ sense anything from him."

"I just told you that I did! Are you deaf?" Hiei cursed, frozen, his red eyes wide. Kurama continued staring at Hiei, the look of surprise never leaving his face.

"In other words then, the root of all this animosity towards the boy is... could it be that Botan was right?"

"The ferry girl?" Hiei said. He had no clue where Kurama was coming from, and like hell was he about to admit that.

"Hiei… are you really just _jealous?_" Kurama finally said.

Hiei slowly let the question sink in. It just didn't seem to be comprehending well in his mind. His eye began to twitch, "What in the world are you talking about?" he growled viscously, "What nonsense is this?"

Kurama looked like he had just been blown away, "Incredible. So it's actually true."

Hiei couldn't believe it- Kurama didn't seem to hear a single word he was saying anymore. The way Kurama was accusing him… the tiniest hint of red began to creep up his neck. Kurama was far beyond stunned and drew back in exclamation.

"You're - you're blushing?" Kurama gasped.

Hiei snapped. He clenched his fists, looking about ready to murder, "Do you even hear yourself? You better stop spewing this nonsense!"

"But Hiei-"

"Enough! You were just leaving, right?" Hiei stomped to the door and let himself in, "Come back after you get your head checked." he yelled nastily before slamming the door.

_What could Kurama have been thinking? Who'd even suggested a barbaric idea such as that! Hadn't he mentioned the ferry girl's? _were the types of thoughts that were burning through Hiei's head as he huffed in anger by the door.

_The mere idea is absolutely ridiculous_, Hiei thought with a final snort, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Frankly, after that small chat with Kurama, he was feeling sick of people and just wanted to go shut out the world for a while.

As he began making his way across the room, he paused when he noticed a figure from the corner of his eye. Ren was lying face down on her couch- it didn't look like she'd moved for a while. The others had left already- Kurama had stayed behind to "talk" to him. So much for that talk.

After a few moments of just staring at her lifeless form, he finally strode over to her, frowning.

"What exactly are you doing?" he said. He was almost caught off guard when her body instantly responded, twisting to her side- her eyes wide open and confused.

"What?" she exclaimed in surprise.

Hiei glared at her, "I just asked what you were doing."

"Oh, erm... resting?" she said uncertainly, eyeing him cautiously.

An awkward period of silence ensued before Hiei couldn't stand her unnecessary staring anymore, "What?" he snapped, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She blinked, clearly lost and put her hands up defensively, "Nothing. It's just... the last thing I expected you to do was come up to me or anything like that. I just assumed that you'd go back to the tree outside my window."

Hiei scoffed and turned away with a 'hn,' intending to do just that. Ren slowly brought herself upright, continuing to stare at him.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what was up with the door slamming?"

Hiei scowled at her, "You just can't stick to your own business can you?"

Ren flushed in embarrassment and annoyance, "I wasn't going to force you to tell me or anything." she fumed.

"Hn." Hiei started to walk away, not knowing why he'd stopped in the first place until he felt a hand wrap around his arm. A flood of warm tingling raced from the touch and he shivered, although it must've lasted only seconds as Ren instantly let go.

"Oh! Sorry Hiei, I'm never thinking when I do that, but I just wanted to ask... You're not still mad at me are you?" she said quietly, but prepared herself for an insult. But instead of snapping at her as he usually did, Hiei only stared at her instead, the warm tingle lingering where she had touched him. _Jealous? Kurama must be out of his mind._

Ren peered at Hiei closely, "Hiei, are you alright? You'd usually insult me by now."

Hiei growled at her sharply, "What's with all these questions? And enough with the mousy remarks. If there's something I can't stand, it's people like you." Hiei expected the typical reaction: a flash of hurt, a look of shock, maybe rage, but Ren only sighed, throwing him off guard.

"I guess you really are ok after all. For a minute there, I thought we were actually having a peaceful conversation." She laughed out loud. Hiei was surprised. She didn't look at all upset; if anything, she was acting the complete opposite of what was expected. Then when she stopped laughing, she smiled brightly at him.

"Hey, I know! We should go to the park just to get away and into fresh air for a while. You like being outside, right?" she suggested.

"I like being alone."

"Well, it's too bad we're stuck together the, heh?" she said casually. Hiei blinked at her, at a loss of words. She laughed at the struck look on his face.

"Come on, just a small walk with me isn't going to kill you. Besides, I think we _need _to get out for a while, if only to get a breather." Without waiting for an answer, Ren stood up and began moving around to straighten and prepare to leave.

Hiei hadn't moved, only watching her go about her business. He couldn't believe this girl. She'd even had the gall to laugh at him. A couple of weeks before when he'd still had his powers, that kind of behavior wouldn't have been tolerated.

When she'd asked him to go to the park, it had never been a question in the first place. She'd already been expecting him to go. The very nerve would normally have made Hiei's blood boil just for her insolence, but he even surprised himself when instead of anger and the desire to have revenge, he only felt mildly annoyed and even a bit humored. If anything, it made him confused.

If it bothered him so much that Ren could order him around now, why couldn't he just say no?

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei wouldn't say a word to me as we made our slow trek to the park. When I'd say something, at first I thought he was ignoring me still but I soon came to realize that he was actually in some sort of deep thought. I let him be, nothing short of relieved and grateful that he didn't seem to be mad at me anymore. But it did make me curious: I wonder what he could be thinking about. After all, even through our link all I could feel was his general emotion.

It wasn't long before we reached the park. It was interesting to see that the yellow tape surrounding the destroyed are was still in place, although the fallen tree had been removed. Even from afar, I could spot the liter of carved of holes in the ground. I shuddered, thinking back to that day.

That was where I had first met Hiei- well, third if I was being technical- and later where Tatsuya had attacked me. Now, it all seemed as if it could have been some crazy dream, like all of this could be a dream right now, and I would wake up any minute and go back to my normal life, back to where demons still didn't exist. But I almost laughed at myself in stupidity- the demon currently trailing behind me should have been proof enough that I was wide awake. Besides, even dreams didn't get this weird.

Speaking of dreams, I thought of the only two I'd had in the last couple of weeks. While normally I would've completely forgotten them by now, everything was crystal clear in my mind. The first one had been about... Asami and her daughter. I remembered the man in the old style clothes... could it have been a sign? No, that seemed unlikely, since it hadn't really told me anything.

Then another thought struck me: could it have been a vision of the past? I shook my head. No that was crazy. People hadn't dressed like that for hundreds of years. Asami couldn't be that old. But a small part of me continued to nag and question myself.

"Hiei?" I called Hiei to get his attention. Actually hearing me this time, he looked at me.

"What?"

"How old is Asami?" The question was pretty out of the blue and his answer should have been expected.

"How should I know. She could be 100 to 1000 years old for all I care. The only thing that concerns me is the day where I'll take my revenge for lowering me to this degrading state."

My eyes widened. 1000! " I had no idea demons could live so long!"

Hiei's red eyes smirked, "Tell me, is it just more or are you humans just getting less intelligent by the decade? Of course Ren- we're immortal."

As it much as it made my teeth clench, I chose to ignore that insult and pushed on with my questions, not wanting him to shut himself off from me again, "Wow... I always thought immortality was a myth. But I guess I'd always thought that demons were myths too." I laughed, mind-blown by the sheer incredibility.

By now we'd worked our way into the park and were strolling down a random path we'd chosen. The breeze felt amazing and the fact that there weren't many people there was even better. Hiei and I paused when we heard a fit of laughter coming from the side.

An ice-cream stall was parked and a little kid was happily accepting the treat from the vender. I patted my pockets, excited to hear the familiar jingle of coins and flashed Hiei a grin.

"Come on," I was careful to grab his sleeve this time to avoid skin - thought I admit I was slightly tempted to touch it again just to see how it would feel this time- and proceeded to tugging him over to the stand.

At first he'd growled slightly and protested, but not nearly as hard as I was accustomed to. I knew for a fact that Hiei had all the strength in the world to snap me in two like a twig, but as I'd found myself to be more and more in his company, I hadn't realized just how much I'd let my guard down around him. I kept forgetting that this guy was actually a ferocious demon- who could really kill me if he wanted to. But the fact that he was barely pulling away despite a few harsh protests now made me think that he could possibly be becoming used to me too. As small a feat as it was, I couldn't help but glow.

"One chocolate and a vanilla please." I handed over the money and turned to Hiei with a bright smile, holding up the frozen treats so he could see.

"You pick. I'm not sure which flavor you'd prefer so I got you an option." to my chagrin, Hiei only stared at me. I stared back, troubled.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What... is it?" Hiei said slowly, his eyes continuing to thoroughly examine the cones.

I wanted to drop over in bewilderment or cry for him in utter despair. How could Hiei ever have had a childhood?

"I think I'm ready to give up on humanity," I groaned as I handed him the vanilla cone, "You're free to try mine if you want Hiei. It's ice-cream... it's kind of like snow, but sweet. - trust me, you'll like it."

"Hn..."

Suddenly, a whimper was heard from behind me and Hiei and I turned to see the same little kid that had gotten ice-cream before us, staring down at his dropped cone, the chocolate already melting over the hot ground. Even from here I could see the wet tears building up and preparing to spill over. _Oh boy._

"Hey, it's ok. Don't cry." I said quickly, rushing over to the boy and crouching down beside him. He sniffed and dabbed at his eyes sadly.

"Here," I said gently, smiling at him as I held out my cone to him, "See? There's no reason in crying over spilt ice-cream." The boy took the cone from me gingerly, at first unsure, but after looking down at it and then back at me, an enormous smile stretched over his face and he nodded enthusiastically.

I stood up, waving as he ran off happily and was surprised to find that Hiei had found his way by my side.

"You're obviously more foolish than I thought." he began, "What was the point of that when you obviously don't have one for yourself anymore? Nothing in the human world makes sense."

At first, I felt angry at him for calling me a fool_ again_, but noticing the true confusion underneath his words, I felt genuinely sensitive to his question.

I smirked at him, much to his distaste, "Haven't you ever heard of an act of random kindness? That little boy was sad and I had the power to do something about it so I did, as simple as that." I explained kindly, catching the look of lack of understanding on his face, "and besides, I can always get another one."

I quickly bought another one for myself and beckoned Hiei over to a bench in front of the fountain that glistened beautifully in the sunlight. Hiei stopped short, observing it.

"I've seen this before." he said.

"Oh? Isn't it beautiful? It marks the center of the park." I invited Hiei to sit down with me, but he only glowered. I didn't bother pushing it, knowing how stubborn he would be.

I took a small bite of the small treat and exclaimed in delight, "Ah! The first bite is always the best. So what do you think Hiei?" I stared at him, only to find that he'd gone back to examining the cone.

"Huh? You haven't tried it yet?" I breathed in surprise, "Don't worry Hiei. I'm sure you'll like it." He still seemed unsure though and kept glaring at it like if he continued to stare at it like that it would suddenly explode. I studied him, amused.

"You know it's just going to melt if you don't eat it. I'd be glad to take it off your hands for you and eat it if you want me to that badly." I joked, grinning.

"Shut up." he bit back and pursed his lips. He narrowed his eyes at me while I watched him. Realizing that it was probably weird to watch him eat directly, I giggled and looked away.

Hiei went for the plunge with one last grimace. I almost lost my second cone when Hiei's arm lashed out in a defensive reaction.

His teeth were bared, "It's cold!" he yelled.

I gaped at him until I couldn't help but burst out in a fit of laughter, "Well of course it is! What did you expect? It's _ice_-cream." I happily went back to eating in peace feeling unnecessarily victorious. My mind began to wander until something occurred to me.

"Come to think of it Hiei, while we were talking about age before, you never told me how old _you_ were. You could be five 500 for all I know."

He raised an eyebrow at me and even smirked, "Who's to say?"

I twitched, "That... that can hardly count as a real answer."

Hiei shrugged, obviously enjoying mocking me, "I could really be 500 like you say or much younger for all it matters. Take Kurama for example, he's no less than a couple centuries old, but why he chose to stay here in the human world after choosing to be born from a human mother 18 years ago is beyond me."

"Centuries?" I gaped in shock. The sheer possibility was unbelievable, "There's no way... he looks no older than twenty. Wait, how can you choose to be born when you're already alive? And why would he come to the human world 18 years ago then?"

Hiei snorted softly, "That's not my story to tell."

I lowered the ice-cream and studied the ground. I had no idea about Kurama. That's right: I truly nothing about any of them, including Hiei.

"What about you Hiei?" I asked quietly, "What's your story?"

Hiei's red eyes flashed coldly, "There's nothing that should concern you. If I ever did tell you, you might even cry from all the things I've done." He taunted me but then became slightly thoughtful, his gaze clouding with memories that I could see reflected in his eyes and feel through our link, "Besides, it's a rather long story that is full of blood and sorrow, and in the end it all came to one lesson that I had to learn through brutal years- I'll always be alone and it's better that way; everything else is worthless."

The genuine rawness in his voice was final and I dropped the subject of the past, leaving me with a burning feeling of guilt and shame. _Maybe I really am just being nosy and need to stick to my own business_...But whatever else I thought couldn't block his final words in my head.

_"It's better to be alone; everything else is worthless."_

I finally just set my cone down, my appetite nearly gone, "Hiei," I gazed thoughtfully into the trees, "Why do you always insist on being alone?"

Hiei scowled, "What's all this sudden interest?"

I grimaced, "It's just... you just said you've always been alone and I know you're constantly telling people to stay away from you, but that's the thing. I don't get it at all."

"What's not to get?" he said threateningly.

"From the time I've spent with you, I've learned some things about you: you're cynical and elusive and you're probably the most misanthropic person I've ever met, but even so, I've seen you with others and regardless of what you say, those are some of the only times I've seen you enjoy yourself. Before I might not have been able to catch this, but now... if you truly wanted to be completely alone, then how come that when you said you've always been alone, there was such bitterness coming from your entire being?"

Hiei was stunned for a moment, and I took the chance to continue before he could stop me.

"As much as you say it, not one person truly wants to be alone." Something stirred within me and I felt myself getting frustrated with his lack of understanding, "It's like you really think you are alone Hiei, but you're not. You have Kurama, Yukina, Yusuke and everyone else. It's true that I don't really know anything about you, but I _know_ you're not alone now, regardless of the past. You just don't seem to be able to grasp that or anything for that matter. I believe that if it really came down to it and everyone disappeared one day, you'd be very lonely..."

"You don't know me onna," Hiei said icily, "I wouldn't miss any of it."

"You're such a liar!" I stood up, glaring into his face. His eyes were transfixed on mine, "Hiei, why can't you see that it's only human nature to not want to be by yourself? You don't have to rely on only you all the time. The reason you're so closed off from the rest of the world must be because of this resentment from your past. You can't let that block your future." I cried out, suddenly feeling desperate to reach him.

Hiei didn't look angry. Not even struck, confused, or despaired. He was nothing, a total blank. Then he opened his mouth.

"But I'm not human."

He left, leaving me alone. Those simple, truthful four words stabbed straight into my core.

I sunk down, my heart racing and chest pounding in pain. I watched Hiei's retreating figure getting further and further away, me not knowing when the bond would finally catch and stop him. Maybe it would never stop him.

_Hiei... I think I _do _understand you a little more now. Because you're haunted by this idea of being abandoned, you declare it yourself to make it seem like it's always been your decision; do you push everyone away so you just don't get hurt? Humans and demons truly can't be that different then, I'm sure of it. I just wish you'd move your pride to the side for just a moment so you could see how wrong you are._

I stood up and darted after him, the ice-cream left behind and so easily forgotten. How ironic.

_One day Hiei, you'll finally realize and admit to yourself how much being with the people you care about means to you. But one day, one of those people will leave and if you don't realize it soon, it'll be too late. You never realize what you have until it's gone from your life forever._

* * *

><p>Wow, it got kind of dramatic there in the end... Well anyways, hope you guys liked it! As you can see, I'm not really sure about Hiei or Kurama's ages; they were never really made clear :P But expect more soon :D<p>

Please review! They make my world go round :)

-Love InuChimera7410


	9. Surprise Homecoming

I'm sorry if there was any confusion! All the chapters got bumped back because my little brother got on my account somehow and deleted the prologue! So yeah :) I'm just relieved that he didn't delete any of the other chapters! :D

**stacikate16:** Yay! I'm so happy you think so c:

**DemonMiko Jenna:** omg. I can die happily now- THANK YOU! :'D I wish I could just give you an enormous hug! I'm glad you like it so much!

**middlekertz:** Wow! :3 Thank you! Hope you like this chapter :D

Chapter 9: Surprise Homecoming

Asami sat on the edge of a cliff, Kuri bundled in her arms, her legs gently swinging in the air. Asami was quietly stroking her daughter's hair, humming softly. The air was light and cool, whipping small tendrils of hair around their faces, tickling them like soft kisses.

Kuri had her eyes closed in tranquil pleasure. She reached up to grab her mother's petting hand and brought it down to her side, tracing the soft lines in it. Asami sighed.

"Mama," murmured Kuri and Asami looked at her curiously.

"Why do we live so far up the mountain?" Kuri's innocent blue eyes probed her mother's earnestly. Asami slightly tightened her hold and long, heavy minutes passed before she said anything in return.

"To get away from all the people." Asami said darkly.

Kuri cocked her head, "The people? What's wrong with them? I thought they looked kind of nice…"

Asami's eyes clouded over and unfocused as if she was seeing something else that wasn't right in front of her.

"They're all thieves, Kuri. Listen to me when I say this," Asami hissed and Kuri tensed, feeling afraid.

"Yes Mama?"

"Don't_ ever _trust a human."

Kuri physically drooped, "Yes Mama. But why-"

"Enough. Now I don't want to talk about this anymore, understood?"

Kuri nodded weakly and Asami's body relaxed, her eyes becoming tender. She gently kissed the top of Kuri's head.

"You're a good girl. As long as you listen to me, you'll never had to go through what I did. I want you to understand, Kuri. Humans are and will always be deceitful and heartless creatures; there's nothing good to come from any relationship with a human- only suffering."

~.~.~.~.~

I rolled over in bed, staring out the window and bathing in the morning's soft light. The birds were already singing their melodies, sweet and nice to the ear. From the corner I could see of my window, I was even able to spot Hiei, eyes half-lidded as if he too were just waking up. I frowned and buried my head in my pillow, wishing I could just go straight back to sleep so I wouldn't have to deal with anything today.

Sleep refused to come back to me because every time I shut my eyes I could only see the very things I was trying to get away from. Hiei and my dreams.

Sighing, I sluggishly rolled myself up and dared to look at Hiei from the corner of my eye. It'd been a couple of days since my random confrontation at the park. To my immense relief, he hadn't taken to completely shutting me out, but whenever he did say something to me, his responses were only as long and brief as they needed to be. And every time our gazes met, I'd be chilled by his icy glare.

Normally, I'd be nothing but furious with him at this point for his immature anger, but after Hiei had left me on that park bench alone did I really come to understand how complicated, and dare I suggest, sensitive a person Hiei really could be.

Now, he'd given me plenty of time for me to mull about what I'd said and how I'd gone about it. It had been totally out of line on my part. After all, I still barely knew the guy, regardless of how long as it seemed we've been in each other's company now. But granted, that time wasn't long at all when I put it into perspective.

I was feeling sick with guilt, shame, and depression. And I was wholly sorry for what I'd done, but no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't feel sorry for what I'd meant. Not at all. But for the moment, there was no way I could say that to him.

Then to add fuel to the fire, when the next morning came, Kurama and Yukina came by as Kurama had said he would and I turned them down- I'd never intended in going with them, and I probably should've told Hiei about my decision because he was just mad at me all over again. We spent all that morning arguing.

It was a bit sad seeing that Yukina was leaving to her home; she told me how she'd been living with this Genkai woman for a little while now and she was feeling a bit homesick, so she wouldn't be returning too soon, but she urged me to come and visit her next time which I couldn't help but promise with a smile. Kurama, Botan, Yusuke, and Kuwabara would be going with her to meet Koenma, but they would be returning in a couple of days. Which meant that Hiei and I were on our own for a few days. (Granted, Keiko would still be here, but I wasn't sure if the three of us would make any kind of "pleasant outing" together.)

And then just to add to my list to mope about, I was feeling even worse about my latest strange dream. Nothing brutal had happened like the first dream, but it made me slightly sick to my stomach no less. For the past several weeks, all three of the dreams had been coming up and I had no idea what to think of them still. I couldn't figure out if they were messages or glimpses of the past. Then there was the question of how could I know if the Asami in my dreams was actually connected to the demon that was trying to hunt us down?

However, somehow I just knew that the dreams and what was happening had a definite connection to each other in some way- the fact that I only started having them when I became involved was no coincidence.

I swung my legs out of bed and got dressed, then made my way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I'd been trying to make food that Hiei would like more in a small effort to create a truce. When I'd call him to eat, he'd always come and we would eat together, but the meals were eaten fairly quickly and no conversation would be made.

While whipping the eggs and staring into space, I gasped when my wrist began to glow, the spoon flinging egg into the air. Startled, I looked at my wrist: the bond had started to glow! Hiei must have tried going somewhere. The light almost faded instantly after I picked up the spoon with a grumble of annoyance at the sticky mess I had created and would have to clean up.

_I wonder where he tried to go..._ I thought curiously and tried to stretch out my mind, but as expected, I could barely feel Hiei's conscience. He must have been too far away. I frowned.

It wasn't like I wasn't aware of Hiei's disdain of being stuck here, but it hurt all the same. To know that someone else dislikes you so much that they're always wanting to leave, but can't isn't a light blow. And Hiei was just so blunt about it, it was about two times worse.

Suddenly, a loud crack of muffled thunder echoed through the room and the remaining eggs went airborne when I screamed and jumped. I was splattered with patches of goopy egg and looked around the kitchen with despair. So much for breakfast.

"There was nothing about thunderstorms in the forecast," I muttered nervously to myself as I fetched towels to clean up._ And it had looked so sunny this morning too,_ I thought with a deep sigh.

I paused when there was a brief sliding and shutting, followed by a fast series of footsteps that skidded to a halt at the open door. I stared at Hiei with surprise. His entire body was damp from rain, his hair sagging and starting to drip on the tile floor. He was tense with alarm, but after he registered the scene, egg residue sliding from my hair and hands, his gaze turned steely and skeptical.

"Did something happen Hiei?" I asked timidly, nervous of the look he was giving me.

Growling, he looked me up and down with disbelieving eyes, "What are you doing?"

I grinned sheepishly with a growing flush, the empty bowl resting in my grasp, "Ah...well, I was making breakfast, but I had a, erm, small accident. Sorry... it looks like we'll just have to get something from the hospital cafeteria when we go check on Mina later."

Hiei cocked his head and scoffed, "You were serious about going?"

I grimaced in annoyance, "Of course I was and yes we're still going. It's one of the least things we can do. We got her in this mess, don't you feel the least bit bad? We're just going to visit her anyway- we won't be there for too long."

Hiei hn'd and I rolled my eyes, "But did something happen Hiei? You came in here like something was after you."

"Idiot girl. I thought you were being attacked." He said.

I blinked, "Attacked? Oh well, no. It's just me and these eggs." Another clap of thunder made me cry out and I threw my hands up in the air, the bowl going with them. I watched in horror as the bowl came down to meet a treacherous doom of shattering into thousands of pieces, but Hiei darted forward, his fingers curling around the lip of the bowl just before it reached impact. He grumbled as he righted himself. Relief flowed through me and I took the bowl with immense gratitude.

"Wow that was close. Thank you, Hiei! It would've been awful if my only mixing bowl ended up breaking." My voice cracked slightly and I stopped, only to aware of how clumsy I was and hoping to Kami that there was no more thunder.

I wiped my hands on my apron and then just realized that Hiei was only adding to the already filthy scene as he continued to get water on the floor.

"Hiei! How hard is it raining out there? Why didn't you go get warm or something? You must be cold," pulling a small towel from the pile I'd gathered earlier I swept over to a confused Hiei and tossed the towel over his head, much to his surprise. I was pleased to find that I reached just fine; I measured right at Hiei's eye level.

"I'll be fast." I promised and proceeded to towel-dry Hiei's hair. His responses were, frankly, surprising.

As I rubbed his head, Hiei instantly began to squirm and yelp, pawing at the air much like a confused animal. Quickly, he was able to snatch my wrist and the towel slid of his head.

"Enough! Just what do you think you're doing?" He yelled, his red eyes as hot as coal but also wild with surprise from the unexpected treatment, but I could hardly focus as I felt tingling warm waves fold over me. Hiei hissed slightly when he felt it, but didn't let go.

Bewildered and frozen by the touch, I managed to meet his eyes. In the seconds that we held each other's gaze, I have no idea what was going on, but I knew one thing in my hazy, delusional fog. I didn't want Hiei to let go.

And then my arm was cast away and I gasped when the flow of energy was cut off. Hiei huffed in anger as I stared at him with wide eyes.

"Insolent human," Hiei growled and made the move to leave the room.

"Huh- w- wait! Hiei, wait!" I forced myself to say as soon as I fully registered what was happening. I lunged after him, feeling the need to call him back because I was sick of all this fighting- I already felt bad enough! But when Hiei was already down the hall, I resigned to stretching my mind through the bond and try to get to him that way. Yet, when I reached him, it was as if he were still far away, like although he was feet in front of me, he wasn't.

My heart quickened as I came back to my senses. No that was wrong. My heart was already beating as fast as a drum- I was only now realizing it. Confusion and bafflement took hold of me. Why could I only barely feel Hiei? We were still connected, I was sure, as I'd seen it with my own eyes earlier. Was it possible it was getting weaker though? Or was it just our mental connection?

I stood there, already completely oblivious to the mess surrounding me. What was going on?

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei! Stop being so stubborn and just take the dumb umbrella." I yelled out through the rain, frustrated at the demon that was sauntering straight through the downpour around us with no protection whatsoever. He'd said a little water wouldn't hurt him, but we weren't experiencing some kind of pop-up shower. I sighed, wishing he could just put his pride to the side for at least something like this.

I could only imagine how wet and cold Hiei was getting. He was almost soaked through to the skin. I had tried to creep my own over him, but he'd growled viscously at me and I instantly withdrew it, stepping back a safe distance with a scowl.

I was trailing behind him, watching his back walk forward, his hands tucked in his pockets. Frowning, I tried to link our minds again, but along with the fuzzy connection and Hiei's own resistance, I couldn't come in at all.

Of all the time I'd spent with Hiei so far, I'd learned fairly quickly- some things were like what he liked to eat or how certain things might make him angry, but one thing that had taken much longer was that we both seemed to share the ability to pretend like things didn't happen. It was so easy to go about our own business and act like events, such as this morning, never happened or were only trivial. Of course, for me, that's how it was like on the outside while inside, I was a constant mess. It almost made me thankful how our mind link was down for now or Hiei might've felt how distraught I really was.

I just COULD. NOT. UNDERSTAND this guy! He'd always made it clear that he hated my guts from the very beginning and constantly dropped his obvious hints to stay away, but then he would randomly say my name, or show some startled side, or act like a child whether he means to or not and then there were _those _ moments...

Hiei's red eyes, close and glowing, flashed through my head. I actually stopped my trek to lean my head against a pole and thump it.

"What's the matter with me!" I groaned out loud, enjoying the temporary relief of the cool pole against my freshly produced headache.

"What _is _the matter with you?" Hiei was suddenly by my side and I stumbled around, startled, almost dropping my umbrella and the small vase of flowers I'd brought for Mina.

"I swear you might be as bad that buffoon Kuwabara." he snorted, cracking a smirk, "Hurry up, we're wasting time." he said and marched back into the rain.

Sticking out my tongue at his back, I readjusted my umbrella and grip on the vase and caught up to him. I took back what I thought earlier: Hiei and I were as alike as something hot and something cold. While I was over here losing my mind over something that really could have been nothing but trivial, Hiei didn't look like he was thinking anything of it. Or he just had the greatest poker face ever.

When we finally reached the hospital (after several more snaps from Hiei after the fact that he had no idea where he was going was made obvious), I led the way inside, shaking my umbrella out, and looked at Hiei with a grimace. People were already staring; he was sopping wet. So much for trying to dry his hair.

Hiei crinkled his nose and scowled as we approached the front desk. I eyed him with raised brows.

"What's the matter Hiei?" I asked.

Hiei studied the white building with great distaste, "These medical centers reek of death and unnatural chemicals. It's revolting."

Compared to Hiei's sense of smell, I could only smell the strong antiseptic and disinfectant that clung to every surface, but I felt my stomach turn at his comment regardless, "But I thought you had lost your sense of smell."

Hiei scoffed, "Hn. Just because I may have lost my powers and entire strength doesn't mean that I'm any less demon than I was before. Though I may not be able to pick out scents as well as normal, I can still pick up the smell."

A young woman was attending the counter, plastic nails clacking against a keyboard quickly that paused for the occasional sip from a dark mug by her side. Her strained, washed-out green eyes were solely trained on the computer screen in front of her and only did she notice me when I cleared my throat after I felt Hiei growing impatient beside me.

"Can I help you?" the woman said sweetly.

"We're friends of Mina Suzuki and wanted to visit."

The woman typed for a few moments and nodded her head, "Of course. It's awfully sweet of you to visit. You'll find her on the second floor, down the hall, room 267. It'll be on your left."

"Thank you." I said politely and waved Hiei to follow me. We followed the receptionist's directions, but I found myself stopping once we'd arrived at room 267. I reached for the handle, but couldn't move after that, my eyes dropping to the floor. It'd sounded like a good idea before we'd come, but now that we were here I felt super nervous. Images of Mina writhing on the floor, Shiro standing over her, crossed my mind. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see her anymore.

Hiei's red eyes rested over me for a moment, calculating and he finally pushed me firmly, but gently to the side, startling me, "Move aside. We didn't come all this way to just not go in." and he opened the door and stepped in. Taking a deep breath, I went in after him.

The room was small and plain except for the monitors hooked to the wall and mini television attached above and a small bathroom off to the side. There was a large window where we could see the storm continuing to rage. By the monitors that were emitting a rhythmic beeping, a single bed was pushed against the wall, a very pale and asleep Mina lying on it. A doctor was standing beside her, scribbling on a clipboard. Hearing us travel deeper into the room, the doctor looked up and smiled at us.

"Ah, visitors for Ms. Suzuki. Friends I presume?"

"Yes sir." I muttered quietly, moving forward with the small bouquet, "How is she doing?"

The doctor came around to meet Hiei and I and said, "Not much better I'm afraid. For as many tests as we've run on her, she seems to be in stable condition, not to mention the lack of injury on her body, but she has yet to come out of a comatose state. Frankly, there's nothing we know to do, but wait and hope that she wakes up."

My mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton, "I see."

The doctor patted my shoulder sympathetically, obviously used to the act of consoling, " We're doing all we can, but I encourage that you talk to her to keep her company. It's said that patients are usually unconsciously aware of what goes on around them. Now, feel free to stay for as long as you want and don't hesitate to call for assistance if need be."

I thanked the doctor kindly and after taking a moment to pause and shoot a strange glance at Hiei who merely glared back, he left the room. I carefully set the vase down next to a small stash of get well gifts that classmates had already come to deliver before us. Hiei stood beside me, inspecting Mina.

"Do you think she'll ever wake up, Hiei?" I asked quietly.

"Hn. There's no way to tell without my power." Hiei responded.

"Oh." I paused and we both fell into silence. A low, muffled rumble broke the quiet and I looked at Hiei in surprise who was looking at his stomach with a scowl.

"I completely forgot that we hadn't eaten yet. Hold on, if you'll just stay here, I can go and get something small for us. I'll be right back." I giggled softly and turned to leave, "Is there anything specific you'd like?"

"Hn."

I smiled, rolling my eyes, "Ok, I can pick."

I left Hiei in the room to search for food, hoping to come across at least a vending machine. I didn't feel like traveling all the way to the hospital cafeteria and I would just be making lunch soon, so I didn't see much sense in collecting a full breakfast.

After a small period of searching, I finally came across a vending machine that was selling teas and small cakes. I bought a few for a variety of flavors, not sure which ones Hiei would prefer.

When I made my way back, I paused. The door was open which was strange because I was almost positive I'd closed it behind me when I left. Nervous, I peeked inside.

"Hiei? I called out hesitantly.

"Ren! You sure took your sweet time."

I almost fell on my face when my shoulder skimmed the edge of the door when I tried to hurry in, "Ryuu! What the heck are you doing here?"

Ryuu was sitting in a chair near Mina's bed and Hiei was leaning against the wall and even through the bond, I could sense the waves of hate being directed towards him.

"I'm here to visit Mina of course. I wanted to see how she was doing." Ryuu's smile dropped when he turned to look at Mina and I wanted to smack myself. What kind of question was that? Of course he was here to see Mina. I found myself distinctly remembering that day and recalled how he'd constantly been shooting glances at her.

"Sorry, that was a dumb question." I mumbled and shuffled over to Hiei.

"Here Hiei, you pick what you want." I held out the cakes to him for him to choose from.

"Oh, you have food? Good, I'm hungry." Ryuu chuckled, approaching us.

Hiei growled, glaring straight at Ryuu, and uttered darkly, "You weren't offered one mortal."

The blood drained from my face and I gulped. I desperately wished that Hiei could hear my message of panic: _Hiei you can't go around calling people __mortals!_

But Ryuu just laughed lightly and smirked, "Mortal? What kind of insult is that? But I'm glad to see that there's nothing wrong with you. It looks like you speak after all. But I guess you're right," Ryuu turned to me with a charming smile and I flushed. Hiei glowered.

"May I have one?" he asked and I stuttered a sure. I watched as he specifically snatched the one that Hiei had just been about to pick, and I couldn't be certain when I said that he might not have done it on purpose. Especially after shooting Hiei another smirk.

Hiei stood up so fast, it startled the both of us. His eyes practically pits of fire themselves, he turned to me and grabbed my wrist. I had to stifle a gasp as electrical waves blossomed under his grip.

"Ren and I were just leaving and if you have anything in your head, you'd know quite well to leave us be. Especially if you want to keep that pretty face of yours from turning black and blue." Hiei said. I wanted to go die in a hole somewhere with absolute horror. I moaned in agony in my head, sending urgent waves to try and stop Hiei like crazy.

Ryuu's burst of laughter pulled me out of my swirl of despair and I gazed at him in surprise, "Easy Hiei, I wasn't looking to pick a fight," his eyes twinkled and I seriously doubted it, "I'll see you around Ren, but if you want some advice, I think you should dump that psycho like yesterday's news. He's way to low for you." Hiei was at his snapping point and released my wrist. I knew I had to get him out of here soon or he wouldn't hesitate to go after him, maybe even attack him.

_If anything, _I thought with dark humor_, __if he does attack him, at least we're at the hospital already._

"Hiei, he isn't worth it," I said and stepped between them, spinning on Ryuu with a glare that he raised his brows at, " You need to learn to shut your mouth, if you know what's good for you Ryuu. What purpose does it serve to pick an unnecessary fight? Come on, Hiei," I grabbed him and tuned out everything else, intent on just making it out and away from trouble. I didn't stop my made trek until Hiei and I were standing outside the building under the rain, regardless of the fact that my umbrellas were right next to me.

I shuddered when I realized that Hiei and I were still in contact and I even yelped when I looked down to see I'd been holding his hand. I flung it down unceremoniously.

"What was that?" I shouted angrily over the continuous roar of the storm, "I don't understand what you're trying to prove by picking fights! You even called him a mortal! I thought it was important to hide the fact that you're not exactly human."

Hiei glared right back and snarled, "Next time you try to stop me, I'm warning you now that there's no guarantee that I won't take you down as well if you're blocking my path. And don't pretend that he didn't make you angry as well! That damn human needed to learn some respect!"

"Hiei, he would've stood no chance against you!"

"Then he would've learned."

"You're missing my point!" I yelled hotly, "You shouldn't let people get to you so easily- you're better than that! But at least tell me this: why do you even hate him so much in the first place?"

My innocent question took Hiei off guard and he refused to look me in the eye, instead choosing to stare out into the rain, "We're done. Let's go."

I grit my teeth in rage, the sound of the rain beating around my body, a roar in my ears, and before I knew what I was doing, I raised my hand and swung it hard.

_Slap!_

There was absolute silence. Even the rain seemed to have lost its noise. Hiei was staring at me with wide eyes, raw surprise imminent on his expression. I huffed angrily, my shoulders heaving, my hand poised across me, stinging from the harsh contact.

"I'm tired of how you think you can just treat me like a door mat and walk all over me. You order me around like I'm supposed to be your slave, and then when I do do what you ask, I never get even once speck of thanks in return. I'm done with you thinking that you're better than everything else- it's time someone put you in place." I managed to pause in my tirade and the words sunk in slowly, like molasses. And as I saw Hiei's face begin to contort, the red mark on his cheek practically glowing in the dim artificial light from the hospital, the reality of what I'd just done came crashing down like the rain soaking me.

I had just signed my own death warrant.

Hiei slowly turned to face me full on. Nothing was said as we stared at each other, waiting for the other to break first under the terrible pressure.

Then everything was painted white with lightning and the sky shook with a thunderous BOOM. I shrieked, jumping into the air, completely shattering the silence and the impenetrable atmosphere.

Hiei scrutinized me as I just looked back at him. As he was about to open his mouth, it thundered again and I cried out again. Hiei's blank stare practically fell apart as he watched me. I had become a whimpering bundle of cowardice. My hands had started trembling and I felt rooted to the spot, overcome with terror. My eyes were squeezed shut, arms covering my head.

"Ren," I heard Hiei's voice as if from far away and I cracked one, watery eye open to still see Hiei standing a few feet in front of me.

"Hiei..." I managed to choke out before another bout of thunder cracked.

I whimpered and pulled my arms tighter over my head, shaking to my core. Make it stop, someone... I managed to open my eyes one more time to see Hiei standing in front of me, his arms hovering near me. I looked up for a split second and caught his uncertain gaze. My eyes widened.

_BOOM!_

Driven by sheer terror, I jerked forward with a cry and crashed into Hiei's chest.

Hiei grunted from my blunt force and staggered back, but quickly regained his footing, grabbing onto my trembling shoulders. I tried saying his name again, intending to apologize and move away immediately but another crash of thunder rooted me to the spot.

However, a haze had begun to take over my mind and I became less and less aware of the things around me. I hadn't realized how cold from the rain I'd become. I was so cold and Hiei's touch was just so warm. My body naturally tried to press closer and absorb more warmth. And I wasn't being pushed away. The warmth was continuing to flow throughout me. The next strike of thunder barely registered, I was already so lost in the comforting heat and I was feeling so exhausted all of the sudden. I couldn't even open my eyes anymore.

_Hiei...it's so warm... _Was my last conscious thought before I slipped off into darkness.

~.~.~.~.~

I was still warm, but this time I was surrounded by it, almost to the point of where it was _too _warm. Groaning, I rolled over and felt something slide with me, soft and thick against my bare skin. My head was propped up and as I cracked my heavy eyes open, I scrunched my face: everything was ... sideways. A muffled rumble had me shoot straight up, tossing the sheets off me.

_Where am I? Where's Hiei..._ I thought absently, but as my memory rushed back, a dark blush blossomed on my face and I grasped the sheets tightly. _Hiei! _After it had started thundering again, I had ended up falling asleep in Hiei's arms! Kami! What the heck was I thinking? What happened after that? I looked around wildly and to my confusion noticed that I was in my living room, back in the apartment.

"How did I get back home?" I wondered out loud to myself and pulled at the sheets again, thinking, "Could Hiei have done this?" I grew silent in thought. And then only blushed darker. There was no way that Hiei would go that far!

"Ren, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

I blinked, confused. That wasn't Hiei's voice. And then I saw a figure emerge from around the corner, holding a tray with three cups of steaming tea. The man was a about a foot taller than me, was firmly built and was wearing a t-shirt and casual pants. His brown hair was cut short and his brown eyes were filled with concern. There was the slightest amount of puffiness under his eyes indicating a bit of sleep deprivation. My jaw dropped.

_"Mako!"_ I breathed out in shock, "You're home!"

Mako set the tray on the small table and crouched next to me, scanning me with worry and placed a hand on my forehead, "Are you alright Ren? Your face is all red. You might have a fever."

I pulled down Mako's hand, and looked at him with wonder, "I'm fine! What happened?"

Mako chuckled awkwardly and ran a hand through his hair, "Well I got home a while ago, planning to surprise you, but you weren't here. And then it started thundering- you have no idea how worried I was! Anyways, I didn't know how to get in touch with you, but the next thing I know, the front door is being opened by a boy I've never met before, carrying you- unconscious, I might add- inside. You were both soaked to the skin."

I was twitching, "Hiei carried me all the way here?"

Mako pursed his lips, "Is that his name? He wasn't too helpful when I was asking him what happened. Not exactly one of the politest boys I've met," he grumbled under his breath, "But the point is, you're home and I'm grateful for him getting you here safely. I almost had a heart attack when I saw you!"

I couldn't believe what was happening and then I realized that the face I had been expecting in the first place was missing, "Wait Mako, where is he now?" A blanket of dread fell over me as the possibilities raced through my head, "You didn't make him leave did you?"

The strain in my voice obviously caught Mako off guard because he looked startled and almost hurt, "What kind of horrible person do you think your uncle is Ren? No, I forced him to take a shower so he could warm up while I put his clothes to dry. You should do the same. You must be freezing in your clothes- there was no way I was about to help you with a stranger in the house."

"Mako," I managed a brief chuckle, imagining Hiei being 'forced' to take a shower, "I hope you didn't literally force him. Plus, Hiei's not a stranger- he's a friend."

Mako crossed his arms, "Well he's a stranger to me and that would've been just plain indecent. And I practically _had_ to force him! Luckily, he seemed too surprise to resist too much though." I couldn't help but thinking, _How much hell will there be to pay later?_ First I _slapped _him, then he had to actually carry me all the way home in the rain because I fainted, then he had to deal with Mako... I groaned miserably.

Mako looked at me with narrowed eyes. I blinked.

"What?" I said timidly.

"I couldn't help but wonder what kind of _friend_ just moves around so comfortably around a house that isn't his. He - Hiei, was it- obviously must have been here plenty of times before in my absence." Mako's eyes glittered dangerously, "Ren, you _would _tell me if anything was going on between you and that boy, _right?_"

I gulped silently. _He was sharp._

I chuckled, sounding more nervous and squeaky than I should, "Of course, Mako. What would there be to hide?" _Just the fact that spirits and demons are real, Hiei's one of them, a group of evil ones that they're after have tried to kill us several times, and Hiei's been living here because of this thing called a spirit bond which was placed on us by the lord of the spirit world._

I tried to look especially innocent. Mako squinted back in return and I had the sinking feeling that he didn't believe me.

Soft thumping down the hall made Mako and I look up to see Hiei walking up, drying his damp hair with a towel. _So his hair just sticks up like that after all..._

Hiei stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that I was wide awake. He looked at me hard for a moment and then dropped his gaze to Mako who was staring at him with a great hint of disapproving.

"Hiei!" I squeaked, unable to help the pink beginning to spread across my face. _Oh Kami... now what do I do?_

~.~.~.~.~

I felt terrible and exhausted, closing the front door behind me with a soft click. Even the fact that it had stopped raining didn't brighten my mood. Nothing could make me feel better, especially since I knew what must have been waiting for me.

I'd been home for several hours already and Mako had just gone into his room for a nap. It was about time too.

I hurried down the stairs, looking around for any sign of movement and made my way around the back towards the large tree. At first, I was anxious when there was nothing in the branches or the bottom, but I found Hiei resting on the other side instead. I frowned: no wonder I couldn't see him from my window.

"Mako's asleep now..." I called up softly and then sighed when he refused to even acknowledge me, "Please come down Hiei. You don't know how sorry I am! I didn't kick you out to be malicious this time or anything, I just can't have Mako knowing that you live here. If anything, I'm the opposite- I-" I gulped when he looked down at me, "I just wanted to say thank you. For... hmm." I looked away, not too keen about bringing up this morning again.

Silence stretched and I leaned against the tree.

"So that was your uncle?"

I was surprised when Hiei was the first one to break the quiet. I looked up at him.

"Yup," I chuckled despite the situation, "Good, ol' Mako, always popping in when you least expect him to. Hiei," I paused to make sure I had his full attention, "I know this might sound awful, but I need you to stay out of the house as much as possible while he's here. I promise he'll be gone in a few days and you'll be able to come in from my window, but we'll have to be careful that he doesn't find out that you're there. You didn't exactly make the greatest impression on him." I said sullenly. It was true- as soon as I'd frantically ushered Hiei out of the house, Mako hadn't wasted time in sharing his crude opinion of Hiei.

"Fine." he said.

_Fine?_ I reeled. Just _fine?_ There wasn't going to be any resistance or backtalk, or _anything?_

"Hiei...?" I asked carefully. Something had to be wrong, just had to be.

"Hn. What kind of fool would go out in a thunderstorm when she was that scared of them?" he said shortly.

I tensed, grimacing, "... I'm sorry. For all of it." There was no way that I could say any of it out loud: I was sorry for the Ryuu thing, the yelling match, making him carry me home, and Mako.

"Hn. All you do is go around apologizing. Stop it- all you're doing is making a further embarrassment of yourself. Frankly, it only goes to show how weak you really are." Hiei muttered, but I became curious when I felt a positive hum vibrate from his mind. I could sense his mind again! Our mental connection had somehow come back into focus. Relieved for some odd reason, I could only smile.

Hiei was definitely a complicated one, but then again, when I thought about it, maybe he wasn't that complicated after all. Of course he'd just insulted me again, but I think that's all Hiei knew to do- push people away, but it's not like I could go anywhere anyways. I laughed and looked up at him again,

"You're right, Hiei. Sorr-" I paused, "Thanks."

"Hn."

In his own way, I think he had just forgiven me or at least chose to look around it. We were taking slow, but sure steps forward. As I walked back to the apartment, I wrapped my arms around myself as a breeze passed by. Even if it was my imagination, for a moment I thought I could still feel Hiei holding onto me.

Shaking my head, I went inside.

~.~.~.~.~

I woke up to the patter of rain drops hitting the window. Praying for no thunder, I sleepily pulled myself up and checked the time. It was almost the middle of the night. I yawned, tired and laid back down to sleep.

The sooner I got to sleep, the quicker I could forget about the rain. I drifted in and out of a dazed state for several moments until my eyes fluttered close...

...

_Hiei_! I shot straight up, feeling horrible as I stared at the rain outside. It wasn't hard rain, but I'd basically condemned Hiei to a night out in the rain. I peered through the window, trying to spot him on the tree, but he was nowhere in sight.

Throwing a blanket over my shoulders and creeping out of bed, I nervously walked down the dark hall, stiffening at the sound of snoring coming from the other room. I forced myself to relax- I never got used to the sound of Mako's snoring because he was constantly gone.

I made my way quietly to the door, checking over my shoulder at each noise. When I accidentally knocked down my umbrella when I made to grab for it, the bang of the wood on the floor was deafening. I froze, terrified that Mako would wake up and demand to know what I was doing. But as the minutes ticked by, the room didn't stir at all and I slowly picked up the umbrella, knowing that every minute that I waited, Hiei was getting even more soaked. I know he thought a little rain couldn't hurt him, but even Hiei must have been miserable out in this weather.

I unlocked the door and stepped out, leaving it ajar. I took my time getting to the tree in an effort to try and not slip and I was paused in surprise when I spotted Hiei leaning against the base of the tree. Luckily, he was positioned under a branch where water was barely getting on him, but from where I stood I could see Hiei beginning to shiver, in his sleep no less.

I approached him cautiously, anticipating him to wake up any moment, but he didn't move, his chest rising and falling peacefully. I crouched down beside him, holding the umbrella over both our heads. I cocked my head curiously, observing silently.

He must have been sleeping pretty deeply for him not to have wake up by now; he must have been really tired. He was just really good at not showing it. I'm not sure how long I just stared at his sleeping face, but it was long enough that my legs began to cramp and for me to feel like a creeper. I blushed, thinking how I probably looked really ridiculous, but it's not like anyone was watching me.

I would honestly never get tired of looking at Hiei's sleeping face. It was so smooth and he looked impossibly innocent. But I also caught half of me wanting to see his red eyes, open and fiery, like usual. Hiei shivered again in his sleep.

I rolled my eyes. I should have expected Hiei not to get me even if he was suffering out here; his pride wouldn't allow it. I sighed and smiled.

Pulling the blanket from my shoulder, I gently rested it on Hiei's lap, _"_You're letting your guard down, Hiei." I chuckled under my breath. I was glad the blanket was thick, as it would keep Hiei from getting too cold. I wish I could let him sleep inside, but there was no way I could do that without Mako noticing.

_I'm sorry, Hiei. I wish I could do more, _I thought and propped my umbrella over Hiei to stop the rain from getting him. I giggled; he looked so vulnerable, I almost wanted to hug him. But it'd be at the risk of my life, so there was no way I could ever do that. _But isn't that what I did last time we were in the rain? _I shoved the thought away.

"Goodnight Hiei." I smiled and looked at him one last time before returning inside.

* * *

><p>So honestly I'm not that crazy with this chapter but I wanted to update today, so voila! But I'm super excited for the next one! xD So you should be too! :D<p>

**REVIEW~!** please? :3 Just shoot me an opinion, criticism, or whatever. I just want to know what you think: love it, hate it, whatnot! :D

Love InuChimera7410


	10. The Siren's Legend

I almost didn't make it! XD It's 11:22 pm still on wednesday! I've been typing like a mad woman! So if there's anything that you don't like about this chapter... blame it on the madness? :3

THANK YOU TO ALL MY LOVELY REVIEWERS! They just make me so happy *tear :'D

Enjoy!

**Chapter 10 The Siren's Legend**

A brief rapping at my window pulled me out of the pool of fuzzy dreams I'd been having. Rubbing the sleep out of shadowed eyes, I squinted into the morning sun, making out the silhouette perched against my window. The figure shifted when he noticed that I was awake and waited with a 'hn' as I dragged myself up to unlock the latch.

I yawned tiredly, "Good morning, Hiei."

"Hn. Am I allowed inside today?" Hiei's response almost sounded sarcastic, but it was too early in the morning for me to process that completely.

I nodded and flashed him a small, tired smile, "Yeah. Mako was supposed to have left by last night, late I think. Wait right here, and I'll go check. After I'm sure he's gone, you'll be good to go." I yawned again as I stumbled out of bed, aware of Hiei's red eyes watching me from his perch. I scavenged the rooms quickly so Hiei wouldn't have to wait long and deemed the space free. Walking into the kitchen, I quickly spotted a bright yellow piece of paper tucked under a pouch that clinked when I picked it up.

My eyes skimmed the paper quickly, an inevitable smile crossing my face.

_Ren, it's about 2 in the morning now and as much as I'd love to see your face and say good-bye properly before I go, I'd hate to wake you up from your sweet dreams. The last couple of days flew by way to fast! I promise I won't be gone for as long this time; I'm working hard so I can stay home with you longer next time! I've left you some extra money, so spend it wisely. I love you, sweetheart. Love, Mako._

I giggled softly at the line of cute smiley faces he'd inserted. It's too bad that he didn't wake me up though- it would've been nice to say bye and plus, I wasn't exactly having "sweet dreams."

I sighed, grinning slightly, and threw the note away, and with the note, my worries. It was as if a large burden had just vanished with Mako, regardless of how much I loved him. The past few days had been the most stressful of my life. Granted, I was being a little over-dramatic, but with a constant grumbling fire demon lurking just outside the window, and a constantly overprotective guardian always on the lookout (and who was suspicious for whatever reason already) I'd had my work cut out for me. There'd just been no room to breathe. Between sneaking full meals out for Hiei and keeping Mako entertained with the small amount of time we'd been given, I was utterly exhausted.

There was one point where Hiei became so fed up at the thought of having to hide from an 'insignificant mortal' any longer that he marched up the stairs to the front door and had prepared to barge in and give Mako a piece of his mind -or fist, more specifically- until I'd managed to restrain him before he could make the first pound on the door, thank goodness. It'd taken a little while and a special pastry from work later that night to fully calm him down.

If I could, I'd tromp right back to bed, but I couldn't today with school in a couple of hours. Instead, I walked back to my room, feeling relieved and pleased, to let Hiei back in. To my slight surprise, he hadn't moved from the window since I'd left.

"The house is clear. You can come in now, Hiei." I smiled. I could sense Hiei's satisfaction at being allowed inside again. Personally, my guess was that it wasn't the fact the Hiei couldn't physically come inside that was so much of the problem as was the fact that he wasn't allowed to come inside, just as expected of the typical rebel. However, Hiei could hardly be defined as anything "typical."

Hiei gracefully pulled himself in with a 'hn' and smirked at me, "It's about time."

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes, "Well, feel free to clean up while I prepare breakfast. Any requests?"

"Hn, not necessarily." Hiei scrunched up his face, and I reproached his look quizzically.

"What?" I asked.

After a moment, he turned away, closing his eyes, and walked past me, "Nothing."

Confused, I watched his retreating back until the bathroom door closed behind him. He'd been having more and more of those moments. I wasn't even sure how to define "those moments" and determine whether they were a good or bad thing. If I had to choose, it was just a neutral action that was peeking my curiosity; it looked like Hiei would pause to zone out and go into deep thought. And, the fact that he had taken to doing it more often lately just added fuel to my fire. _Watch it Ren, curiosity kills the cat,_ I scolded myself with a small grin as I left to make breakfast. _Lucky I'm not a cat though._ I couldn't help but let Botan's face pop into my head.

I went back to the kitchen, flipping through several options for a meal in my mind. It wasn't as if it was a particularly different morning or anything, but I felt like I should make something that was… special. I had the extra time to do it with Hiei cleaning up, so why not?

_I know!_ I was excited with triumph, picturing the future breakfast in my mind. _I hope Hiei will like it!_ I beamed to myself and began cooking. Fortunately, this time around, I wasn't making something that would have to represent some kind of apology offering, but I wanted to make him something that he could really like to understand how thankful I was for putting up (at least to the best of his abilities [regardless if they were even his best]) with me for past couple of days when Mako had been home.

At first, it'd seemed simple enough to me for Hiei just to stay out for some time and I could let him every once in a while, but that original plan had turned out to be nothing but squat. It'd been ridiculous from the start and after placing myself in Hiei's shoes, I could only imagine how miserable being required to camp out in isolation for that long must have been. I feel like Hiei deserved some kind of consolation treat for that.

I could only hope that Hiei would understand my thanks through this meal. _If this turns out as good as I'd like, maybe he'll even be able to taste it! _I joked lamely to myself.

There was nothing to do but admire my finished work when I'd finally set up the last bit of my masterpiece. All in all, it was very simple and nothing too obvious, but it consisted of an entire compilation of the foods I'd noticed Hiei loved- or would tend to eat with more gusto than others. Hearing the door of the bathroom begin to creek open, I began to wonder if he would even notice, but I had to remind myself that that wasn't the point of all this. All I wanted was for him to enjoy it_... Plus the fact that I worked hard to make it all._ I giggled.

Hiei appeared around the corner, drying his hair, and looking very much like he did that night when I'd woken up after being carried home during the thunderstorm. Including, ahem, _not including_ any article of clothing except for the _small_ measly towel wrapped around his waist. My face flared bright red. Hiei strolled inside the room with his typical bored expression, clearly not thinking anything on the matter.

He paused in the doorway with a raised brow, "What's this?"

"I-it's breakfast," I wheezed, unable to rip my eyes away from his nearly naked form. Hiei eyed me strangely and cautiously walked around the table and sniffed the spread. Just as he was about to open his mouth, I stood up so fast that I almost flipped the table.

"_Hiei!"_ I shrieked madly. He jumped backwards, completely taken aback by my scary outburst, "What the _hell_ are you doing? Get out! Go!" I literally sprinted around the table and began pushing Hiei backwards. He was so surprised, he could only sputter bits of protest as I drove him back. I was only barely aware of the fact that my hands were on his bare chest.

"Put on some clothes for _Kami's sake!_" I shrieked with a final push inside a room – I didn't even know which one- and slammed the door. I leaned against it, panting heavily, my entire face in a full, blooming red. What kind of guy just walked around in nothing but a towel? Obviously, Hiei had clearly forgotten that I lived here too.

I took a shaky breath and let my pumping heart settle down.

_Now to wait for Hiei to come out of the room…_

~.~.~.~.~.

Of course Hiei said nothing about my special breakfast, and it's not like I could expect him to, especially after my extreme reaction this morning. But to my immense surprise, he hadn't mentioned it in some kind of cold comment or whatnot. He'd just come back, fully clothed, and settled down to eat. I even dared to think that I was home free, but I should've known better.

"So... is it any good?" I tried to sneak in the question between bites. Hiei didn't even so much as look at me when he answered.

"What in the name of all that is still sane in this world was that earlier?" he retorted calmly, but beneath his plain exterior, I could feel the boiling interior within. I eek'd quietly, but couldn't help but become defensive.

I squeezed my hands in my lap, glaring down into it and feeling the blush come over me again, "Well, excuse me. I'm not exactly used to people just strolling through my house with nothing on."

Hiei snorted, "I wasn't bare."

"You practically were!" I snapped back.

He growled and we proceeded to lock eyes in an intense glare down. I refused to blink even though I could feel them starting to burn.

Hiei scowled gruffly and hn'd, then went back to eating without looking at me. I was left staggering and struck. Although I was supposed to have been the victor from that one, I was left with the struck feeling that I hadn't won.

"Hey!" I jabbed my chopsticks in his general direction, my lethal weapons in this fight, "I'm not done with you."

Hiei's eyes flicked up for a second before he smirked, snorting slightly, and retreated back to his food (which I must observe he was eating quite heartily). _He wasn't taking me seriously!_

I scowled and chewed my food sulkily. Would Hiei never take me seriously?

My anger had reached its climax and now I was experiencing the bitter sting of the afterwards. My forceful chewing slowed and my scrunched face quickly drooped into a frown. I hadn't meant to blow up again. All I'd wanted was for Hiei to like the breakfast I'd made for him. That was all I had been asking for- but of course it had all gone wrong anyways.

"Hey,"

I picked my head up slowly to find that Hiei was looking at me again and I cocked my head curiously. His face had reverted back to its bored state.

"What's been bothering you so much that it turns you into _this?_"

My eye began to twitch in anger. _This?_ But I didn't get to say anything before he startled me with his next words.

"For a while now, you've taken to becoming angered by the most trivial things. Frankly, I'm more than tired of your immature behavior. Koenma must really be a fool if he has not yet informed you of what I can do at my full potential," he said. I could only stare at him and wait for him to go on in surprise. Although Hiei seemed to be insulting me again, I didn't think that that's what he was getting at.

"With my full power, I could easily invade your mind and do with it as I pleased, but fortunately for you, I lost my power before I deemed it worthy of you. However, through this spirit bond that we share I've been able to sense a certain degree of restlessness coming from you at points. Particularly at night." He continued. My eyes widened; could he be sensing my dreams?

"My point in saying any of this is that it's probably best for both our sakes that you release what's been plaguing you before any more time can be wasted because of it. I could care less of course; it's merely a hassle for me." He finished promptly, leaving me in stunned silence.

"Hiei," I started slowly, thoughtful, "Are you actually concerned about me?"

Hiei's jaw clenched and his eyes became steely, "Do you need your hearing checked? I just said that I could care less."

"But that's not what it sounded like you meant," I said, an assortment of feelings tumbling around inside me.

Hiei opened his mouth to respond, but it closed like a broken hinge. Just as he was about to actually say something I shook my head.

"Thank you Hiei, really. I'm not sure if what you actually just said really does mean that you're concerned for me, in your own way, but I'm ok. But I promise that as soon as I have something that I want to confide, you'll be the first to know!" I grinned at Hiei whose face contorted into one that expressed his incredulity.

"Ridiculous fool! That's not what I was saying at all!" he yelled at me.

"Then what were you saying?"

Hiei grit his teeth and stood up, the universal symbol to express that he was a moment away from leaving, "Hn."

Hiei marched away from the table. I merely took to watching him walk away, tired from all the commotion, but I was surprised when he suddenly paused in the middle of the doorway.

After a long stretch of time and anticipation, Hiei finally turned his head to glance at me one last time.

"Thanks for the meal." He muttered before leaving the room to prepare for the rest of the day.

I blinked slowly, letting the small phrase roll through my head, and before I knew it, a beaming smile was spreading across my face.

"You're welcome." I said warmly in return although I was sure that he was too far off to even hear me by now.

~.~.~.~.~.

"Thank you! Please come again," I bowed quickly with a smile before rushing off to the next waiting table, the tray of food teetering dangerously in my hand. After serving the meal, I hurried away towards the back to get the next platter of food, but as I was moving along I shifted my head to the side, my eyes skimming the back of the room, scavenging for the all too familiar flash of red.

Hiei was sitting at the bar, his legs and arms crossed and looking utterly bored, a typical scowl decorating his face. Just like he had been only minutes before when I'd checked. I sighed and hurried along on my way.

I don't know why I was feeling so anxious, but I couldn't stop looking over and making sure that Hiei hadn't gone anywhere. And like every time before that, he hadn't moved. Even his expression was never-changing.

I shook my head, annoyed at myself. I needed to forget about him- what was I worried about anyway? The worst that could come out of anything would be from someone trying to approach Hiei, but if anything, Hiei would be the one to stay away from them, so there really shouldn't be anything to really worry about. At least that's what I kept telling myself as I bee-lined my way through the mess of tables, continually shooting brief glances over my shoulder.

It's not like I really thought Hiei would cause any trouble for the restaurant or even for me, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was bound to happen. There was no solid foundation to that reason either- I just figured that it would because, well, it was us.

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei watched Ren maneuver her way throughout the small restaurant with a scowl, extremely bored and feeling grim. While she spent her time flitting from table to table, he was left in the same corner for hours every time she had to come. Hiei's scowl deepened just thinking about it. It made his blood boil knowing that he was restrained to this one spot and couldn't do anything about it either. It had become all the worse ever since the fox and detective had taken their leave to the old psychic's residence leaving him with Ren as well.

How long had it been since he'd been confined to his human dwellings? More than long enough, he thought with a growl. With each passing day, Hiei's already low tolerance and short-tempered patience continue to whither away. He'd been feeling more uneasy and he was becoming quite restless. His natural demon instinct only continued to gnaw away at him, a constant reminder of his lost power and bitter helplessness.

Not only that, but he could even feel what little strength he had left was deteriorating. His reflexes were getting slower, his vision had lost that sharpness carrying the ability to catch the smallest details, and even his sense of smell of which he had for a little while was beginning to fade away.

Hiei flexed his hands, trying to remember how even the hilt of his katana felt, looking back to when he could actually use it and go wherever he pleased. Kurama had yet to return it to him- the familiar weapon was an extension of him and even now he felt naked and vulnerable without it.

Yet as much as he hated to admit it, it wasn't as if he even needed it. None of the enemy had bothered to attack recently which had left things rather dull. They might as well have left him to rot. An anxious longing had already begun to itch its way into him. It'd been much too long since Hiei had made some kind of good kill.

But as much as he missed everything else, what he yearned for even more was his jagan eye. It may have been unnatural, but it'd become another part of himself throughout the years. When his energy had been drained away, he'd lost the ability, or more, the privilege, as the jagan eye was like a separate being of its own, to use it. The jagan was noble in itself and if it were to be controlled, its user should be equally as noble. When he'd lost his powers, it had sealed up, if doing nothing but gravely wounding his pride.

He hadn't examined it thoroughly, but the fading scar marked by his heart was practically burning with the flame of his desired revenge against that first demon, Manabu, who'd essentially become one of the original sources of this whole mess. It didn't matter how powerless he was, he would enjoy the moment when he'd finally get the mongrel at the mercy of his blade.

_However, the worthless creature doesn't deserve a quick death_, Hiei thought with a dark smile, _Rather, I think he'd enjoy meeting my dragon._ The only problem now was keeping him alive till then. No one else better even dare make a scratch on the demon, unless they wanted a taste of Hiei's wrath too. No, they would do well to stay out of his way and understand that Manabu would be Hiei's, and Hiei's alone.

Then there was the problem of the girl- Ren...

Hiei caught her flashing another quick glance his way, her face tinted with worry; he'd also been feeling the constant hum of her anxiousness flow through their bond. He'd already seen her giving him similar glances throughout the evening. He arched a brow as he observed her scurrying through the chaos, as if something about just being in this room brought out her clumsiness even more.

How long would the two of them remain connected in this way? In the beginning, Hiei had never dreamed about even standing her for up to a couple of days. Now, it'd already been at least a month and he realized that he'd found himself becoming more… accustomed to it. Hiei's scowl dropped, a dark aura descending over his shoulders instead.

If only he could have access to his jagan eye for a moment to look directly into her head, would he be in the least bit satisfied. He couldn't understand her at all. First, she would get angry from the most trivial of things and then she would be smartly snapping something back when she should've been on the verge of tears. At a first glance, she had just been an obnoxious, teary-eyed mortal girl who Hiei found easy to loathe, but as he'd been forced to be by her side, she'd revealed herself to be something more… Naïve if anything else, but still.

Hiei frowned, looking down at his scarred hands… He felt angry at the sense of confusion and his lack of understanding that had come to form a vortex inside him and even more frustrated with Ren. He was so used to easily prying inside his victim's head that he had been forced to discover the hard way what things were like without his abilities- and it was driving him up the walls to no end.

The sudden strong smell of piping dishes and thick spices made Hiei scrunch his face. All he knew for sure though, at this very moment, was that he did not belong here, regardless of anything else; he had not struggled through all he had to only end up trapped here in this hell-hole. Hiei clenched his fist, lost in his own frustration and self-wallowing.

"I'm glad I guessed right when I figured you'd be here _again._"

Hiei snapped his red eyes on the manager lady who'd haughtily pulled up in front of him. She had a hand on her hip and was scowling lightly. Hiei glared back, angry by her obvious lack of respect.

The woman's eyes inspected him thoroughly as she approached him and he only then noticed the small plate of food in her other hand when she pulled out a chair and invited herself to sit down. Hiei was about to make a crude remark, but stopped short when she slid the plate across the bar to him.

"It's on the house," she said. He eyed it, confused, and looked back at the woman with suspicion.

"What's this?" he inquired.

However, she seemed unaffected by his rude attitude and she just shrugged and offered him a smirk, "Honestly, I was hoping it would work as a bribe to get you to leave."

Hiei gazed at her with a raised brow, "And how would this exactly do it?"

The manager sighed and returned his glared, unperturbed, "I'm not really sure- I was just hoping I could do it a way that might appeal to you."

Hiei snorted, "Obviously you lack common sense."

She cracked a brief smile, "I guess I do- at least with a bastard like you."

Hiei glared sharply, "Watch your mouth, lady. Under different circumstances, I might've enjoyed cutting out your tongue for that."

She laughed in return, standing up and smiling, "My, what a threat! How in the world did a brute like you end up with Ren? She must have been nothing but desperate- you don't deserve someone like her." Hiei began to stand up, his mind clouding over with anger, but she waved him down.

"It's none of my business what my employees do with their private lives, but I do make it my business when it interferes with mine." She flashed a sidelong glance at Hiei, "Some of my frequent customers have started asking questions about the 'scary guy' that is always sitting in the corner of the room now."

Hiei growled, "I dare you to try and do anything about it."

"It's not like you're exactly a paying customer and I've even just treated you with one of our specials for free, so you'd think that you should show a little more gratitude that I haven't tossed out your butt already. The only reason you're even still here is because of a small favor I owe Ren's dad from way back when and the fact that she's a sweet girl as it is, but I can easily overlook that if you venture to pressing on the wrong buttons, m'kay?" she grinned at him and began to turn around, laughing.

"I'll leave you to it then. Oh, and stay around for a little while longer after we start closing up. I'd like a word with you then." She waved a quick farewell before he could reply and rushed off to attend to the nearest group of customers.

Hiei bared his teeth and glared at the plate of food, regardless of the tantalizing smell being wafted into his face. If he'd been frustrated before, he was livid now. He wanted nothing more than to just vanish into one of his favorite trees somewhere far from here, but of course, he couldn't. He exhaled sharply and slammed his fists down on the bar, startling more than a few of the people around him, including the bartender who'd even been getting used to his constant presence.

"Damn humans," he muttered under his breath, reaching for the nearest pair of chopsticks.

~.~.~.~.~.

I shut the door behind me and strolled over to meet Hiei, who'd taken to leaning against the brick wall to wait for me. Tightening my mother's ribbon in my hair, I smiled at him.

"Ready?" I chirped, pausing beside him.

He smirked, "Hn, I have been for several hours."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I should've figured; let's get going. Are you hungry?"

The back door suddenly swung open behind us and we paused, curiously looking over our shoulders. The manager leaned against the frame, a smug look plastered on her face. Baffled, I instantly tried combing my memories of the night through, wondering if I had done anything wrong.

"I could've sworn I asked you to wait after for a word, didn't I?" she chortled, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

I cocked my head in confusion, "Ma'am?"

But Hiei scowled beside me, "It must have slipped my mind." I looked from the manager to Hiei and back.

"What's going on?" I asked nervously. The tension between the two was thick in the air, but I could sense something else behind it. It almost felt challenging, like there was some kind of tricky exchange passing between them.

The manager cocked her head, flashing a knowing smile, "I just had an offer for your boy over there."

"An offer?" I was even more confused, but Hiei's expression had shifted to something of interest.

"Mind giving me your name first?" she asked.

Hiei studied her with narrowed eyes, "It's Hiei. Now state your business with me or we'll just take to leaving."

"Tch, touchy. Alright then, I can't believe I'm still going to offer this, but how would you feel about working here part-time? Kami forbid, you won't be going near any of the customers, but I'll give you simple work and you can work the same hours as Ren. I figure that if you're going to be taking up space all the time anyways, you might as well be doing something useful. What do you say?"

My eyes widened. Hiei working? _Under orders?_ I glanced at him in bewilderment, positive that he would decline the crazy idea right away. However to my even greater surprise, I could see that his mind was turning, toying with the idea. After a brief silence, he even smirked.

"You're crazy, lady. I don't exactly work well under orders." He shrugged, supposedly closing the case on the matter.

The manager rolled her eyes, "Don't be so full of yourself, kid. Like I said, you should be grateful." She pulled out a small bundle that she'd been holding off to the side that I hadn't noticed before and tossed it unceremoniously towards us. Hiei caught it in surprise as she continued.

"Your shift will start as soon as you step into my restaurant the next time you come, so I'm leaving you with two options. Either stay away from here or expect to work the moment you set a foot in here again. Then again, it'd probably be best if you just never came back- you'd probably be a terrible worker anyways." She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in. I started to feel Hiei's frame shake beside me.

Then she tapped her chin and looked at me happily, "Oh and thanks for all your work today Ren, the customers love you. See you tomorrow!" And with a final bright smile, she slammed the door shut, leaving us stunned to silence in the dark.

I looked at the bundle she'd tossed to him and gaped at the navy work uniform.

"She was serious?" I exclaimed quietly after a dragging clip of silence, "Hiei?"

When Hiei started laughing out of nowhere, though, was when I really became concerned, "Ha! I'll show that human fool how 'terrible' of a worker I can be. I think I _will_ take her offer- if not, but to show how idiotic she really is." Hiei chortled evilly to himself and started to walk away, leaving me to stare after him in absolute horror, my face pale.

He was really going to take her bait just like that? Had Hiei actually ever worked before? By the way he was acting now, I highly doubted it. I held my head which had suddenly started to pound.

_There's no way, _I thought despairingly to myself, _that this can end in anyway other than disaster._

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya strode down the short aisle, responding to the sudden call of Asami. Looking around, he noticed that practically all of them had been called. Kuro and Shiro were already there and waiting. He spied Aya and Itsuki idling a bit away from them, almost surprised to see them- he hadn't heard from them in a while. And last but not least, Manabu- as always- was posted below Asami's regal throne, looking down on them all with his purple eyes. The only one that he could tell was missing, was Asami herself.

As he came into the middle of the group, the other took notice of him.

"Does anyone know what this is about?" he grumbled, annoyed. He'd been busy with other matters and Asami's random summons had thrown him off guard.

Aya purred sleepily and threw an irritated look at him, "No one here is sure. We just got here too."

"Oh? That surprises me. I haven't seen you or Itsuki in a while. What've you been up to lately?" Tatsuya pried challengingly.

Itsuki remained passive while Aya hissed in return, "I don't exactly like your tone, Tatsuya. It's not like we've just been twiddling our thumbs on the side. Asami assigned us a specific task to work on. Itsuki and I have been quite busy with gathering all the data we could get our paws on."

Tatsuya pursed his lips, "And how's that faired?"

Aya bared her fangs slightly, but Itsuki was the one to answer, softly, "We haven't been able to find much."

"That sucks." Kuro chimed in, strolling over to join the group, Shiro dawdling right behind him.

"No one asked you." Aya snapped. Kuro released a ferril grin, his eyes glowing.

"Oh, does the cat want to play?" he taunted, dangling his scythe side to side. Aya hissed visciously, razor sharp claws exposed.

"This cat has claws, so I'd watch my mouth if I was you, Kuro."

"Enough of this." The chilling voice made all heads turn as Asami glided down the hall. Her shock-blue eyes caressed each face in the room slowly, her pale and exposed skin shimmering in the dim light. A rich and graphic kimono rippled behind her, loose around her shoulders. Images of blood and gore were beautifully stitched into the fabric, truly a thing of art and horror. It suited her perfectly, Tatuysa thought with a grimace.

They didn't move until she'd reached her chair. She murmured a few words to Manabu who nodded with a low "yes" before she settled into the chair.

"Now I hear that you haven't found anything of importance. Is that certain?" she inquired with a hint of disdain. Aya's ears flattened slightly against her head, but she tried to stand firmly and look Asami in the eye.

"No, Asami. Itsuki and I have yet to find anything that would aid us in our mission." Aya couldn't help but draw back slightly under Asami's diminishing gaze.

"How unfortunate. However, I predicted this sort of incompetent performance from you and I went ahead and asked Manabu to find something useful."

Aya raised her arms in protest, "But my lady, that wasn't necessary. If we had a bit more time, then we most certainly would have-"

"Would have found nothing anymore useful than you already have with your shallow abilities." Asami finished smoothly and Aya dipped her head, resembling a wounded animal, "No, Manabu has provided me with enough information for me to actually draw from which is much more than I can say about you, and with his information we may actually have a lead. Tatsuya, how has your own assignment been going?"

Tatsuya scowled slightly. Ever since the "coincidental" hospital visit, Ren had been giving him an exclusive cold-shoulder treatment regardless of what he tried to do or say to make her forgive him. She had formed a grudge and was holding on fast. As Ryuu, he couldn't even get near her and as he was now, he could only examine her from afar.

"It hasn't been very fruitful either. There's only so much I can get her to say."

Asami frowned, "All this news grieves me. I had expected much better from all of you. It almost leads me to believe that most of you don't have any use." She began to clench her hand.

The red marks lining the skin of Kuro, Aya, and Itsuki's neck began to glow and the room was suddenly echoing with howls of pain. Aya had dropped to all fours and was twitching and exclaiming in an unseen torture, Itsuki beginning to writhe silently but obviously just as much in pain. Shiro was worriedly bent over Kuro who'd been forced down to his knees and was grunting with pain, having bit his tongue to keep most of the screams at bay. Tatsuya forced himself to keep his gaze trained on Asami, trying to block out the tortured cries. Manabu's own neck wasn't glowing, but he appeared unfazed, his eyes stony.

When Asami finally released her clenched hand, the three were left gasping, still doubled over with a ghostly pain. Asami looked at all of them coldly.

"Next time I won't be so forgiving. Now, I have some important information I need to share with you all. It determines our next course of action."

~.~.~.~.~.

I'd never been more caught off guard in my entire life. Almost two weeks had already passed since my manager's ridiculous offer for Hiei and there was nothing else to admit, but that he was doing a pretty good job. He'd come with me the very next day as always, and as promised, he was put to work. Of course at first, he hadn't been anything but hostile and sarcastic when she tried to put him to work at different jobs, but he'd eventually been least resistant to washing dishes and that's where he stayed.

Fueled by the manager's constant sarcastic remarks and her original comment of him not being a good worker, each dish came out ridiculously shiny and clean. Frankly, it was one of the most hilarious things I'd ever seen happen, it being Hiei no less. If anyone had ever told me that Hiei would resort to "degrading" work, as he put it, as this, I would've stared at them like they'd grown two heads. But I would've been forced to eat my own words because as I was serving this instant, he was in the back washing dishes like there was no tomorrow.

I hadn't felt this relaxed in weeks! With Hiei occupied in the back, I was free of worrying of what other customers could think since they didn't interact with each other at all except for the few times he had to come out and clear away some of the dishes when the custodian's hands were full and as long as I knew where Hiei was, which he barely even went anywhere, it only added to my comfort. Of course, every time someone would even look at him, he or she would be shot with one of his infamous glares, but I was ok with that, so long as he kept out of trouble for the most part.

It was near closing time and only a few more parties were still eating and even they were almost finished. It had been an easy night, and I hadn't even tripped once. If we were lucky, the entire restaurant would clear out soon and the manager might even let us leave early. I had also planned to take out some of the leftovers from tonight's special for us to enjoy later, but the moment the next customer walked in and I turned to say "welcome," the automatic smile that was supposed to form, immediately turned to one of disbelief and only further deepened as Ryuu casually strolled to an empty table and I knew that any plans to enjoy later had just been tossed out the window and pounded into dust.

The moment he caught sight of me, those white teeth lifted into an incredible, all-knowing smirk. The slow trek to my own personal hell was slow and motorized and I could only wish that it had lasted a bit longer before I was standing beside the table. Ryuu casually rested his head on his arm.

"Ren! Wow… this is a surprise." He exclaimed with feigned surprise. I couldn't believe this was really happening- had he really just come to eat _here,_ of all places, by random coincidence?

"Good evening, sir. May I recommend our special?" I said mechanically through a clenched jaw. Ryuu frowned and tried to look sad, although his green eyes glittered with obvious amusement.

"Ouch, not even a hello? Don't tell me you're still that mad at me? You've treated me so coldly for the past couple of weeks… haven't you ever heard of forgetting and forgiving? I already forgot about it a while ago." he blinked at me with puppy eyes. I stared back, trying to keep as blank a face as possible so as to prevent anything else from showing.

"Your order, sir?" I pressed coldly.

Ryuu rolled his eyes and fluttered a menu in my face, "Here, just get me a glass of water. I'm not really hungry." I yanked the menu from his fingers, enraged. _Then what the heck are you doing in a restaurant in the FIRST PLACE!_

He started speaking before I was able to escape, "So, speaking of forgiving and forgetting, where's Hiei? I don't think I've seen you once without him being at most five feet away from you. Don't tell me you actually took my advice?"

I tried keeping my tone polite, but it was clipped, "He isn't here right now."

Ryuu's smile was replaced with a frown and I was surprised when his entire exterior seemed to sober and the amusement dancing in his eyes was replaced with seriousness, "Oh really?" I swallowed, suddenly nervous with this new side.

But then almost as quick as he changed, he reverted back to being amused and he looked up at me with a knowing twinkle, "Ah! I should've known better than to believe you. Speak of the devil himself."

The color drained from my face as I turned to look at what Ryuu was pointing towards. Hiei practically _was_ the devil himself. He was staring straight at us from across the room, the black tub he used for picking up dishes beginning to tremble in his hands. His eyes were alight with the very fires of hell. I gulped, eyeing the pile of dirty dishes that needed picking up beside Ryuu's table.

The feeling of despair I'd had the moment Hiei had received his job offer - that had disappeared over the course of time- was back as if it had never left and only started to expand, like a dark, _deep _black hole.

"Hey Ren, how about that water?" I felt Ryuu tap my arm briefly and I had to bite my tongue to not say anything. Forcing myself to walk away, I desperately tried to connect with Hiei through our bond. _Just ignore him, Hiei! _Please_ ignore him! _I was wishing with all my might, but I couldn't help but feel that Hiei wasn't listening to me at all. I disappeared into the kitchen with one last glance behind me of Hiei and Ryuu locked in a crackling stare down.

There was no time to waste- I tried to find a glass of water as fast as I could, but when I finally got my hands on one, my hands were shaking with the sudden adrenaline rush so badly that I dropped it. Several of the cooks tried coming to my aid, but I could only shake my head and try to brush them off. Every moment wasted back here, was another moment towards imminent chaos.

Finally, I forced my hands to still and took the time to slowly and _agonizingly _fill the glass, but when the first shatter splintered the air, my heart dropped like a stone, the water instantly forgotten. Tossing it into a sink, I sprinted out just in time to see Hiei deliver a solid punch across Ryuu's jaw. And imminent chaos erupted.

The air was filled with the screams of guests as I tried to rush towards the two boys who'd already become lost in their rage. Hiei was sent tumbling back, knocking over spare dishes, tables and chairs as Ryuu upper-cutted into his stomach. Grabbing onto the nearest object, a flower vase, Hiei immediately sent the floral piece flying towards Ryuu who ducked just in time, the vase exploding on the wall behind him, sending bits of porcelain in different directions.

"Hiei!" I screamed, trying to get their attention in anyway I could, "Ryuu! Stop!" But if they heard me or not, it didn't matter because the china and punches just kept flying.

A thin trail of blood leaking from his nose and a small cut on his cheek, Hiei managed to land a solid kick to Ryuu's stomach sending him sprawling across the floor. It was the only chance I had, and I literally dived for it. Wrapping my arms around Hiei, I clung to him tightly, letting the electric waves flow over us.

"Hiei you have to come back to your senses! _Please stop!_" I pleaded with all my might, my eyes squeezed shut; it was as if I was holding onto him for dear life.

After a long, scary moment, I was afraid Hiei would keep fighting me, but when he finally seemed to realize who I was, he slackened in my arms. I let go, coming around to face him.

"Are you ok? You need to stop… Hiei?" I took his face in my hands, searching for any more wounds, my eyes finally flicking to meet his. His wild gaze found mine and for a moment, his eyes were still filled with anger and untamed rage, but recognition eventually took their places. I pulled down my hands.

"_WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?_" the screech pierced my being and all faces in the room whipped to face my purple-faced manager. Her entire body was overcome with waves of rage as she surveyed the destruction, her pupils dilating. She spotted Ryuu who was picking himself off the floor and roared, stomping towards him and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"_Out!_" she bellowed and forced him out the front, slamming the door with a loud bang.

The silence that followed was deafening.

Hiei had taken to reverting to his expressionless face, but I was shaking with the fear of what was about to happen, what was coming. She didn't even have to look at us.

"I think… you two should go." I barely heard her whisper.

I was on the verge of tears now, but I forced them back, "It wasn't Hiei's fault… he was instigated. Please, maybe we can work this out-"

"I think you should go _now_." She reinforced firmly.

What had just been an illusion of things looking up, had just shattered like the pieces of china littered all over the floor. I looked down, swallowing back my tears, feeling myself go numb.

"…It's alright- I needed a better wage anyways," I stumbled over a chair as I tried to walk back. I could feel Hiei saunter behind me as I somehow made my way through the kitchen, leaving the silent crowd behind us, and finally out the back door.

And then I was sprinting, not knowing where I was going and totally overcome with sinking despair. Right now, I just wanted to get away from it all, just go somewhere and escape.

But the gold chord that repeatedly glowed as I ran was the bitter reminder that I might not be able to ever again.

~.~.~.~.~.

I was panting heavily by the time I slowed down, collapsing to my knees. The night breeze felt cool against my hot skin, and the constant hum of water soothed my nerves. Drops sprinkled onto my skin and I looked up. Somehow I'd managed to find my way all the way into the park and by the fountain. The bond that had been glowing for a while now, soon faded.

I stayed there on the ground, just gazing at the fountain for what felt like a long time. I'd never realized how beautiful it was in the dark. Special lights circled the inside and illuminated the streams of water that would shoot up in timed intervals. The white, carved face of the siren was even more angelic in the moonlight, but with the light, the shadows were all the more dark.

A soft padding of footsteps behind me made me sigh. I was exhausted and felt like an idiot.

"Yes, Hiei, I know. I'm an idiot." I stated simply, wanting to avoid breaking the peace of the moment the fountain's beauty had created. It was like it had casted some sort of magical spell, and I was seeking the comfort it was giving me now more than ever.

Hiei didn't say anything for a long time. And then:

"Hn, it's good that you don't need me to tell you then."

I wanted to laugh out loud, but I resolved myself to chuckling softly. His answer had been so typical; I shouldn't have expected anything less. We settled into a blue silence.

"…I'm sorry."

With those words, my magical spell was broken and, being free of whatever had had me transfixed, I slowly turned around with wide eyes.

"What?" I couldn't have heard right.

Hiei was slightly turned away from me, his hands pocketed and his eyes slightly downcast, "I said I was sorry. For what happened… and what I did."

I blinked. After I didn't answer, he finally shifted to looking at me, but I continued blinking. He growled.

"Are you deaf or something? I'm trying to apologize and all you're doing is looking at me with your mouth hanging open like a fish!"

I continued staring at him and innocently put my hands up, "Oh no, don't get angry. I'm sorry- I think I just went into total shock. That was… one of the last things I'd ever think you'd do." I managed to crack a smile, "You're always leaving me guessing, Hiei. I can never figure you out." I even laughed a little.

"Don't worry, you don't have to apologize. I'm not really mad at you. If anything, I'm angry at myself."

"Hn."

My smile was getting bigger and I paused, thoughtfully gazing at the fountain again, "You know what, it's alright. Of course, maybe you could've restrained yourself a little, but no worries! Life goes on," I had to laugh at my feeble attempts to be optimistic, but strangely enough, I was feeling a bit better, "It's funny, Hiei, how a few words from you can make me go from the bottom back up. It doesn't make much sense."

"That doesn't make any sense at all," he huffed and I smiled. The fountain water gurgled soothingly in the background.

"Say…" I began, picking myself up and going to sit on the edge of the fountain, running the tips of my fingers along the water's surface, "Did you know that there's a legend behind this fountain?"

Hiei walked up to join me, standing at the edge and just gazing at the two statues, "A legend?"

I nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah… Mako used to take me to this park all the time when I was younger and he was around more. I can't believe I still remember it; it's been so long…" I took Hiei's lack of response as encouragement to continue.

"I'll say sorry in advance- I'm not nearly as good a story teller as Mako, but I'll try my best." Hiei hn'd and I giggled slightly, climbing up onto the side of the fountain.

"The siren's legend begins just as many stories do, as it took place a long time ago, eons and eons back, managing to escape pages of history and memory. There once was a siren that lived alone in the ocean- she was infamous for her unworldly beauty and equally beautiful voice and the village men often found themselves longing for at least one glimpse and one sound of her rumored loveliness. But what those same villagers never thought as important to think about, being so blinded with the thought of such beauty, was the fact that sirens were known to prey on men, and used the very song they thought beautiful to lure them. Every time a man would wander out in the open by the sea, the siren would lock eyes with the man and he would become her prey. And this went on for a long time.

"But one day, the men finally stopped coming to the beach once the fear of being eaten had finally registered through their shallow desires and the siren was left completely alone. She waded around in her loneliness for a long time, and after months of starving, she was surprised one day when another man suddenly came to the beach. Excited at the thought of a meal, the siren immediately set out to get him, singing as she had many times before, but just as she was about to meet his gaze, she suddenly found herself in grave danger, having lost her special touch. She quickly lost consciousness and began to sink to the bottom of the ocean.

"However, that day would not be her last as she thought it would. When the siren regained consciousness, she found herself in the arms of the same man she had been about to feast on and locked onto his eyes. Normally, the siren would have thought nothing and proceeded to take him, but something about his gaze made her insides churn and her heart begin to pound like they never had before. Thinking that she had become ill, the siren squirmed out of the man's grasp and fled into the ocean. But the man would not be deterred, for he had been the first one to see the siren's true beauty and survive, and he had fallen madly in love with her.

"Determined and persistent, he returned to the beach everyday to try and see her again, and while at first the siren only watched him from afar, little by little she approached the shore. And then when the day that she finally reached him came, the siren saw his tender, loving eyes once more and she realized that she was not ill, but had also fallen in love. For a moment, everything washed away and they were happy.

"But along the way, that moment ended, as the siren realized that they could never _truly_ be together because of what she was and what he should have been to her and in an effort to protect him, she didn't return to him for a long while after telling him why. Regardless, the man kept coming back everyday she wasn't there, always telling her that he was willing to sacrifice himself if it need be. But she was not to be deterred and stayed away for the sake of her love. But even she had to succumb to nature at one point.

"One day, she became so hungry that she instinctively started to sing. Like all others, the man was quickly enraptured and lured by her voice. The statue represents the moment, frozen in time, when the siren was singing and the man was about to go to his death. That's why her face, although beautiful, is carved with sorrow, the man blindly following the voice to where he might find his beloved."

I looked down at Hiei when I finished only to find him grimacing at me. Confused, I asked him what was wrong.

"What happened then?" he asked.

"What happened?" I repeated, still confused.

He motioned towards the statue, obviously annoyed that I didn't understand him the first time, "In the legend- it can't just end like that."

I stared at him curiously for a second then raised my hand to hide a smile, "Well, I believe that there are two endings: in one ending, she continues to sing and he sacrifices himself for her, but in the other she forces herself to stop singing, thus saving his life, but then sacrificing her own and starving to death. I know, they're not exactly… happy endings."

Hiei growled, "Hn, I don't need the variations; I just want to know the true ending."

I closed my eyes, letting the mist wash over me, "Hm… I think that's something you should decide for yourself."

"Hn." I watched in my peripheral vision as Hiei's hand snaked its way to clench a small object hanging around his neck. I unconsciously bent closer, intrigued.

"Hey, what's that? It kind of reminds me of a tear drop." I cocked my head, trying to see it between his fingers.

Surprised by my sudden closeness, Hiei snapped away from me, obviously taken off guard. I didn't move, afraid that I'd make him angry, but I watched him as he slowly relaxed, but continued to eye me.

"Hn… it belonged to my mother." He stated simply, looking away.

I gasped softly, my eyes softening, "Your mother?" I scratched my face, feeling a bit silly, "I'm not going to lie- it's kind of weird; I know it sounds dumb, but I think it sounds strange to think that you have a mother, mostly because I just can't picture you as a son. What's she like?" I inquired.

He took a long time to answer, "She died before I could ever meet her."

"Oh…" the mood turned somber, but I managed to give Hiei a soft smile, "It's beautiful though."

"Thank you." He replied quietly.

On a whim, I gently began to pull on the silky ribbon that was holding up my hair and let the usually done-up locks spill around my shoulders and down my back. It felt strange to say the least, but I smiled as I held it up the ribbon in the soft glow of the moon.

"I think I've mentioned it before once. This ribbon used to belong to my mother too. I never met her either; she died a long time ago." I swallowed a small knot that had formed in the back of my throat. I wasn't supposed to be making myself sad! Hiei had just shared something personal of his, so I thought it would be only fair to share something equally as personal in return.

"This is the only thing I have of her, if you don't count Mako of course, but that's being pretty general." Hiei watched me as I caressed the small piece in my hands, "I always where it wherever I go because Mako tells me that it's how she used to where it. I guess it's kind of dumb, but I figured that if I wore it like that too, I could be somehow closer to her."

"Hn, that is kind of dumb." Hiei snorted.

I scowled down at him, clenching my hand around the ribbon, "Hey, I'm not judging you. Don't be judging me! It's not any of your business anyhow." I huffed, but I was startled when I found myself looking into a pair of thoughtful red eyes. I don't think I'd ever seen them so tranquil before.

"It's true that it's none of my business and it's not in my intentions to make it, but I don't think that you need to continue to wearing it up like that. In a way, trying to be like her is only keeping you from being yourself. Besides," he paused, his eyes flickering.

"You should wear your hair down more often- it looks nice."

My heart skipped a beat.

Eyes wide and shining, I gazed down at Hiei in an utter stupor, the ribbon nearly forgotten in my hand, "Hiei…"

He rolled his eyes at me, "Nevermind, forget any of what I said. Come on, we should get going."

After a moment, I smiled and nodded in agreement, "Right."

I made the jump to step down, but as soon I moved something felt weird. My foot had caught a slicker part of the stone and the next thing I knew, the world was turning sideways. My eyes became as wide as saucers and I instantly began lashing out for anything that could possibly save me, the water rushing up fast for impact.

I noticed Hiei's own wide and bewildered eyes as I managed to grasp the front of his shirt and gasp his name for help, before we were both plunged into the icy water. I was surrounded by a fiasco of splashing and whirring until I was finally able to pull my head out of the water, choking on some of the hair that I'd managed to suck in as I tried to breathe. A chaotic series of splashing and sputtering beside me suddenly exploded into Hiei's head as he too emerged from the water.  
>I looked at him and then looked at me, in all our soaked glory, from his hair that actually followed gravity's rules for once and my chattering teeth, and I exclaimed a big guffaw, and without hesitation, I took advantage of his confusion to pull him back in a second time.<p>

It was the hardest I'd laughed in a long time, and I was still laughing even after he finally managed to drag me out since I was having so much I didn't want to leave. And although he was denying it pretty well, I know I had seen Hiei crack a smile and even let out a small bark at least once or twice. But I'd let him win this one; it didn't matter anyways, since I knew what I saw/heard.

A jolt of warmth trailed up my arm as he accidentally knocked elbows with me, and although he drew away, I was left feeling much more warm and fuzzy than before, which made it a little easier to ignore the icy clothes that clung to my skin. And even long after I changed and told him goodnight, I still couldn't drop my smile.

_Thank you, Hiei._

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><p>YES! I still made it *epic pose look into the sunset<p>

:D Please review and let me know what you thought? :3 Please please please? xD

Till next time!

Love InuChimera7410


	11. Colds, Apologies, and Explosions Oh My!

Wooop~! Updating a day early :D ENJOY!

**middlekertz:** *bows* thank you :3

**DemonMiko Jenna:** Aww that's ok! Thank you for reviewing last chapter anyways~ And I know xD I know I must've been pushing it with that, but I figured that if Hiei could be made angry enough, he just might do it XP

**dragoscilvio:** Hahaha! Omg! I am too XD But even as the one who's pulling the strings behind this story, I don't think they're quite there yet ;D Not for a while- but stick around to find out! :D

**FireStorm1991: **aww :D thank you!

**Sures1109: **x'I You're going to make me tear up! Thank you so much! Haha, I couldn't wait to put that scene in when I thought about it~!

**LadySilverWolf03: **I know I already PM'd with you, but thanks for the review again! :D

**Just 2 Dream of You: **You have no idea how touched I am! I know you reviewed my stories by PMing me, but then you go out of your way to post a review anyways x'I Thank you!

**Strawberry Poop: **BAHAHAHA! First of all, I've got to say that I ADORE your name! XD THANK YOU! *BEAR HUG* I'm so glad that you love it so much :'D

**no name 128: **Thank you! I know- that Ryuu! What could he be thinking -_- But I'm excited to reveal Asami's story too! It'll come out slowly, but surely!

**Guest: **Oh ho ho~ So you like Ryuu? ;D He is a bit of a charmer, isn't he? :3 And can you see the future or something? o.O You were pretty much spot on, but not quite ;D

**nonameprincess: **Thanks a bunches! Haha, I will :))

**Tay: **AHH! Pressureeeee! DX I feel like my action/battle scenes are so terrible T-T But I'll try my best! Thank you for the review! :D

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 11 Colds, Apologies, and Explosions- Oh my!<span>

I could tell from the timid looks Kuri would shoot around every so often and the tense way she was holding her body while climbing down the mountain that if Asami caught her, she would be in trouble. She was already considerably down as it was- and I could tell that she knew that she was doing something wrong. But as this was only another dream, I could only nervously follow her.

It confused me slightly: why would she go to such lengths to get away from her mother? Kuri seemed to love Asami very much, so why the secretive escape?

I grunted and hissed as I'd slip on dirt or trip on rocks, accumulating all sorts of cuts and bruises. However, as much as I was struggling, Kuri nimbly scurried down and I even almost lost her. I realized that she must have taken this path many times before. This wasn't the first time Kuri had come down.

My legs were trembling after a little while longer and I gasped out loud when Kuri suddenly slipped on a loose stone and slid several feet down, but other than some grumbling and a scraped knee she seemed to be alright. I took the moment to peer over the ledge and my head spun when I realized that we must've been no more than half-way down. It was a long way down from here...

Knowing that I couldn't go any further without at least a little break, I plopped down where I was. Thankfully, Kuri did the same. She must have been more tired than I'd realized, but a small breather was not meant to be.

A series of rattling coughs and harsh sputters were heard a bit away followed by a fit of wheezing. If Kuri hadn't just shot up and taken off, I might've just stood there in fear, but without a thought, I followed her.

Kuri swerved through scattered trees so fast I was scared she might trip and break her neck, but the next thing I knew, we were standing on the edge of a clearing. I followed her behind a bush that she immediately ducked under although there really wasn't any point in me hiding since no one could see me anyways.

Copying her, I peeked over the top of the brush. Towards the other side of the small clearing, an elderly man lay on one knee, pressing an arm over his mouth which he continually coughed in to. He was hunched over and even from here I could see his shoulders quivering. Taking a deep breath, I stood back up and crept closer, leaving Kuri behind in her hiding place.

A few gray strands fluttered on top of his head and I could see his wrinkled hands squeeze, clenching and unclenching. Along with many sun spots, there was a thick scar that crossed from the top of his nose across a droopy eye which was rimmed red. He wore the same type of clothes as the man from my first dream, old fabrics tied together poorly.

He hadn't stopped coughing either. He continued to hack up a storm and then, for a moment, drew his arm away. It was covered in blood. I turned paper white.

This man was dying.

No matter who it was, seeing something like this and not being able to do anything was just... I didn't know what to do. Suddenly, I heard soft pat of grass and looked over my shoulder. Kuri was timidly stepping towards us, fear and worry evident in her eyes. She eventually reached my side, but looked severely frightened by the sight of the crippled man. Regardless though, she raised a shaky finger to tap his shoulder softly.

"Hello?" Kuri whispered.

After a good cough that left a small trail of blood on the edge of his lips, the man yelped with alarm against the small touch of her hand and at first his eyes were wild with fear but after seeing her small form instantly retreat a few steps, his eyes softened and settled into the wrinkles of his face.

"Pray child, what are you doing so far up the mountain? Are you lost like me?" He moved his hand in a beckoning gesture, but Kuri stood her ground, taking another step back. Unconsciously, I attempted to place my hands protectively on her shoulders and couldn't help but be momentarily startled when they passed right through.

The man looked a bit hurt, but the expression was immediately replaced by a wave of pain and he was swept up in another period of stronger coughs. His knee buckled and his body crumpled to the ground. Startled and acting on the moment, Kuri rushed forward, hovering over him and waving her arms in a useless flapping.

"Old man? Ah! No! Are you ok? Please get up!" Kuri hung over the man like the disease that was plaguing him, but was too frightened to touch him. But albeit her panic, the poor man was only dying faster. I could barely watch.

Tears dotted Kuri's eyes and she bit her lip. I thought she was about to turn tail and run, and as awful as it was, what else could someone have expected her to do? However, she completely surprised me when she did no such thing. She managed to quickly compose herself as best she could and eased herself to the ground, settling right next to the man.

"Please, I can help you, but I need you to turn over." The man wheezed and I watched anxiously as Kuri -surprisingly- rolled him over easily. That was dangerous, especially since he was still coughing up blood. If she didn't do what she was going to do fast, he could end up choking and I shuddered at thought. I landed next to her, waiting in alarm.

Kuri's small fingers reached across his chest and gently settled over his heart. There were amazingly steady compared to before although her shoulders were still quaking slightly, but her eyes burned with a fierce resolution. She was going to help this man, and she was going to try all she could to do it. She closed her eyes and her face slackened in a calm, smooth slate.

At first nothing happened, and not knowing what to expect, I kept shooting glances between the two, but I gasped when I noticed her hands beginning to glow, barely but surely. A marvelous light was seeping from her fingers, engulfing her hands, and climbing up her arms. Soon enough, the entity of light was glowing around her and her hair was flowing around her from the sheer power of the light. I felt warmed and enraptured by the fiery glow that was now surrounding both Kuri and the dying man and found myself becoming overwhelmed with feelings of contentment, warmth, and wholeness.

But it all ended too soon and I became alone and cold.

The man had gone absolutely still, all the blood drained from his face and from what I could tell, he wasn't breathing. Fat tears threatened to spill from my eyes, thinking that Kuri had just killed an innocent man, but then after a heavy moment the man's eyes flew open and he sat up just as fast, startling Kuri backwards.

He became unruly, pressing his hands all over his chest, his face, every inch of his skin. Kuri was clearly afraid again, due to his strange behavior. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't either.

"Are you alright? You should be feeling better now," Kuri timidly asked, approaching him cautiously, but he spun around on her, and there was no speck of gratitude or amazement to be found on his face. There was only utter terror.

He began to scoot back roughly, his arm buckling under him so that he was dragging in the grass and lifted a severely shaking finger directly at Kuri who was trembling too much to stand, a mess of fear, confusion, and hurt in her eyes, her hands covering her mouth.

"Y-you aren't human! A Devil's child! Devil's child! Help, a demon! A demon has cursed me! Gah!" he began to wail in fear as Kuri crawled forward, her hand stretched out, tears streaming from her eyes.

"No," her voice shook quietly, but then it became more insistent and hurt, "No! Old man, no! I didn't hurt you, I was only trying to help-"

"Help! Devil's child-" and then he suddenly choked a final breath as he looked down in shock to find a long jab of metal was protruding from his stomach. A sword. He began to choke on blood that was coming up in heaves and he fell over like a limp doll, all the while staring at Kuri. A single tear rolled down his withered face and his eyes saw no more.

Trying hard not to vomit, I looked up and saw Asami, standing in all her terrible glory behind the dead man. Her face was hidden in shadow and a tiny wind was flicking her clothes and hair around eerily. In a smooth motion, she bent down to grasp her weapon and in a flash, yanked it up and out without mercy, spraying blood everywhere. Bile filled my mouth and I threw up.

Kuri was frozen on her knees and looked up at her mother through dirt, tears, and blood. Asami took a dangerous step forward, stepping on the corpse with a terribly _crunch_ before reaching her. Scarlet dripped from both her sword and kimono, making the raging look in her eye all the more fearsome.

"Mama, I-"

"Defiant child." Asami whispered and lifted her sword above her head. Time slowed down. Running on nothing but sheer adrenaline, I tripped and pushed myself around Kuri as the sword came down, wrapping her tightly in my arms and waiting for the end.

~.~.~.~.~.

Hiei's eyes snapped open, and beads of sweat sprouted on his forehead. His head felt like it was on fire and his body was wracked with a sharp wave of pain. Panting heavily, Hiei's hands flew over his chest, clutching the source of the pain and yanking his shirt up. No scar or cut marred his chest though. Alarmed, Hiei forced himself to calm down and ignore the pain.

Through his pounding head, something was thrumming with energy- the bond! As soon as he realized it, the pain overtaking his body lessened immensely. None of the pain he'd felt had actually been his; the barriers to his mind must have been down while he was unconscious so when the feelings came through, he'd felt it as if he were Ren herself... _Ren! _He instantly darted from his spot in the tree and flung the sliding window to her room wide open, hopping inside.

Ren was thrashing around in her bed, shivering and whimpering pitifully. Full-fledged tears were streaming down her face and she was breathing harshly. Hiei kneeled beside her quickly and his eyes widened slightly when he noticed that hers were not- she was still asleep.

_A nightmare?_ Hiei thought, and grasped her shoulders to try and stop her from moving although her body continued to rock with subtle shivers.

"Ren," Hiei called out firmly, "Wake up. You're dreaming."

"No... Kuri!" Ren yelled and shot up so suddenly that Hiei was almost knocked down. Hiei gazed at her intensely and froze when he found himself staring into a pair of shocking blue eyes. But then she blinked and they reverted back to chocolate brown making Hiei question what he thought he'd just saw a moment before. _What-?_

Ren's frame shook as she continued to pant, her eyes swimming, "H-Hiei..." her voice hitched and she looked down at her hands, "But the pain was so real." she trailed off.

Hiei studied her cautiously, mostly lingering on her eyes, "But it wasn't. You were just having a nightmare."

Ren let his words sink in before nodding slowly, "Right... a nightmare. Oh," she moaned quietly, her head sinking back down onto her pillow. Although fully awake now, her eyes became half-lidded and her breathing sounded more ragged then it should have. Hiei watched as she succumbed to another sweep of shivers and she coughed lightly.

Hiei scrunched his brows, "Are you ill?"

Ren's loose bed-head, slid around her shoulders as she tried to sit up again, "No, I don't think so. I'm ok-" an unexpected coughing attack overcame her and she shuddered. Hiei was tempted to roll his eyes- human bodies were so frail.

"Tch, obviously not. Even your face is starting to get red." it was true- as he spoke, Ren's cheeks were becoming blotchy, making her look more sickly and weak by the moment. She coughed briefly before pulling the covers tighter around herself.

"This isn't good- now I've got no job and a cold to boot... But I guess this isn't completely out of the blue, " she tried to joke weakly, "It must've been because we fell into the fountain yesterday." she laughed lightly which ended in more coughs, "Figures you seem to be fine though... ugh. Hiei," she muttered.

Hiei stood beside her bed, waiting for her to speak.

"Hiei, can you do me a favor and go get the cold medicine from the bathroom please? And a cold towel would be nice too..." her mumbling trailed off, and she closed her eyes.

Hiei would have snapped at her for assuming that he'd do what she asked, but she already seemed to have tuned everything out to fight her sickness. With a "hn," Hiei left the room to fetch what she'd asked.

It was easy enough to find a towel and a shallow bucket to fill with icy water, but when Hiei swung open the cabinet, he was baffled by the huge assortment of different bottles which appeared to be lined in no particular order. Now the only question was which one to choose, and this being the first time Hiei would be handling human medicine, he had no clue. Grumbling and not having the patience to carefully pick which bottle was the 'cold medicine' -after all, she hadn't necessarily been specific- , he snatched a couple of possible helpful-looking ones: a small white container, _Advil, _a pink liquid-filled one, _Pepto-Bismol, _and another liquid-filled, this time red, _Tylenol._** He could only hope, he thought with a grimace, that one of them would be what she was looking for, mostly to spare him the trouble of looking again.

He made his way back towards her room, this time with the tub full of water tucked under one arm and the bottles and towel in his hands. She hadn't appeared to move and continued to breathe heavily, but opened one eye when he set everything beside her. She surveyed his findings with an arched brow, a small smirk finding its way on her face.

Hiei growled lowly, sensing the spark of amusement from her mind, "You weren't specific, so I just brought a couple in case."

She shook her head lightly with a small smile, trying to hold down a laugh, "No, it's alright, thank you for getting them." She laid back down, shivering.

"Hn. Aren't you going to take them?"

She grimaced, "I will in a bit. Now, would you mind getting the towel wet and folding it?" she closed her eyes once more, leaving Hiei unable to protest again. He submerged the small cloth into the bucket and folded it into a small rectangle; at least this much he knew. He moved to brusquely place it on her forehead, but only when he came closer to her face could he feel how warm she was. She was burning up with fever.

"You have a fever." he remarked quietly, but she didn't answer. He was surprised to find that she'd already fallen asleep again.

"Hn- typical."

~.~.~.~.~.

I was awoken rather rudely by the sound of loud voices which weren't doing anything to help my headache. I could barely focus, but when my blurred vision finally cleared and I could feel the cool skin of a hand pressed on my forehead, I perked up slightly in my haze.

"Ah you're finally awake. Your fever seems to have gone down, but I'm afraid you'll have to rest for a while longer." Kurama withdrew his hand and smiled kindly at me.

"Kurama?" I mumbled, barely registering what was happening.

"Sleeping beauty finally woke up! How are you feeling dear?" Botan's face was suddenly leaning over me with a smile. I summoned a small grin back.

"I've been better." I replied.

"So we've heard," Botan commented.

"But anyways, welcome back. How long have you been here?"

"We arrived several hours ago." Kurama chuckled, "Yusuke and Kuwabara would have accompanied us, but Yusuke was under orders to go visit Keiko the moment we returned. Likewise for Kuwabara for his sister."

"Kurama, don't you think that you should give her some space?" I hadn't even noticed Hiei across from me until he'd spoken.

Kurama hid a knowing smile as he backed away, his eyes glittering with humor, "Right, I'm sorry Ren. We didn't mean to wake you either."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad I could see you guys." I reassured them.

Botan pulled up a chair next to me, "Yes, we're glad we caught you too. It's felt like we've been gone a lot longer than only a few days."

"Oh yeah, how did seeing Ga..." I smiled sheepishly.

"Genkai," Kurama supplied.

"Right, how did seeing Genkai go?" I asked eagerly, and judging by the exchange of glances between Kurama and Botan, something must have been up.

"While you've slept, Hiei has shared a bit of everything that's happened while we were gone, not that we mean to pry but to only check. He told us about Mina's condition, your uncle, and how you lost your job yesterday." I felt my cheeks warm, and I was pretty sure it wasn't because of my fever; at least it seemed that Hiei didn't go into much detail.

"He also told us about how you accidentally fell into the fountain last night," Botan added, "Which explains how you got sick. You're so clumsy," she giggled. I shot Hiei an amused glance- I don't think it would hurt to assume that he hadn't mentioned anything about him falling in either. Or anything pertaining to him really.

"There is one more thing that I haven't mentioned yet," Kurama said. We all looked at him expectantly.

"Genkai desires to meet with you Ren, preferably sooner rather than later. She did not supply me with specifics or a firm reason why, but what I was able to grasp was that she thought it dangerous that Hiei was so defenseless and unable to protect an innocent girl and she deemed it important that she could see to at least the smallest amount of training."

"Training?" I repeated uncertainly. I'd never been good with any kind of sporting or training; my clumsiness made sure of that.

"I'm not _defenseless_, only weakened, but I will admit that it'd be particularly unwise to reject the hag's offer. However, I knew this already. The only thing still keeping us here is you," Hiei shot a glare in my direction.

I sighed, becoming a little lightheaded, "I thought we were over this! And like I'd predicted, Mako even came home for several days. If I had been gone, there's no telling what kind of panic he would have gone into. I didn't want to take the risk."

"Hn."

"We really do understand your hesitation Ren," Botan said, "But it really would be a good idea to at least go and meet her. Genkai is infamous for her psychic insight and abilities- I think she could help you two. Plus, she's absolutely charming once you get to know her- as long as you stay on her good side, of course." she chirped.

Kurama chuckled and Hiei grinned, "I don't think charming is exactly the word..."

Botan put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue. I couldn't help but admit that I was slightly curious as to who this Genkai woman was; she definitely had many mixed reviews, most of them radically different.

"Do you think..." I started slowly, re-capturing the attention of the three," Do you think that Genkai could help... with dreams?"

My question was left hanging in the air. Hiei was looking at me with a serious, knowing look, but I averted his gaze. Kurama and Botan seemed concerned.

"Dreams?" Botan asked, "What kind of dreams?"

I bit my lip, not sure I was fully comfortable in sharing my most recent dreams- more nightmares. I was feeling especially pressured with Hiei's full attention, trained eyes and ears and all. He'd asked me about my dreams once before and then when I woke up from this morning- I could feel how curious he was through the bond.

"Well, I-"

A brief knocking from the other room ruined the intensity of the previous moment and I inwardly sighed with relief. I could worry about this later.

Botan stood up, "I'll get it for you Ren."

I tried to extend my hearing as far as possible to try and hear whoever was knocking at my door, but Botan's squeal was hard to miss.

"Ooh, I remember you! Ren's not feeling well and she's been confined to bed for the day, but please come in. Make yourself at home!"

I twitched; it was almost funny on how easily Botan welcomed whoever it was. Almost.

A few mumbles from the guest were exchanged, but the voice was pretty low so I couldn't tell, but the atmosphere of the room changed drastically. Kurama's warm eyes turned cautious and unreadable which confused me and the moment Botan arrived at the open doorway with said guest, I didn't know who was going to have to be held back more. Because regardless of how Hiei felt, Ryuu's small smile was making me see red in no time.

"Looks like we've got a full house," Ryuu tried kidding lightly, but only Botan nodded with a laugh. Kurama feigned a poor smile, Hiei's eyes were the only windows displaying his rage because his face had become a blank slate, and I was shooting an all out look of evil at him.

Frankly, I was shocked Ryuu wasn't already K.O.'d on the ground because the waves of hatred Hiei had accumulated for him were washing over me at full force, but Hiei was standing absolutely still although his form was practically trembling with restraint.

Botan was left to shoot around a confused and nervous look when she finally noticed the strained tension in the air, "Um... did I miss something?"

My head pounded and I felt even more dizzy. I had to take a deep breath and clench the sheets to keep my anger in check.

"I'm sorry guys, but could you go? I need to talk to Ryuu." I was able to mutter quietly.

Although confused, without a word, Kurama stood up and pulled a hopelessly lost Botan out behind him. I didn't miss the cold glance he shot towards Ryuu. But Hiei didn't move a muscle, his gaze boring holes through him.

"Please Hiei... I need to talk to him _alone._" I said to Hiei who turned to look back at me. I could feel the desperate anger behind his calm exterior, but I didn't want him around while we talked; I knew that Hiei wasn't going to go easily though.

"Please," I repeated, almost whispering.

He didn't make the move to leave again. A few moments passed by.

"Hn." and then he left, walking straight forward and refusing to acknowledge anything else. He even closed the door softly behind him.

Ryuu didn't waste any time and approached my bedside, pulling out a white bouquet from behind his back and presenting them to me. He flashed me his crooked grin.

"The lady called them asphodels. They symbolize apology, although I would've gotten you some 'get well soon' flowers instead if I had known that you'd need them. I hope you have a vase for them."

I didn't even look at the flowers, "First you pick a fight at the hospital," I paused, letting the words sink in nice and slow, "Then you pick a fight that gets me fired." I lifted my head to look him straight in the eye, "And you _dare_ come here and try to _apologize?_"

Ryuu's smiled had disappeared but his face was completely composed, "Yes."

I could barely keep my voice down, "You had no right whatsoever to come to _my house_, Kami, and even _think _that I could forgive you!"

Ryuu had sat down on the chair Botan had previously occupied and I wanted to do nothing more than knock him out of it, but I could barely think without feeling terrible as it was. I hadn't even thought about what I'd do or say to him the next time I saw him, but I'd figured I'd attack him or have some long confrontation to put him in his place, but nothing of the sort was coming to me now and the next time I spoke, my voice cracked.

"Why Ryuu? How could you? That was my _job_. What am I going to do now? How am I going to pay for anything until I get a new one?" It was beginning to sink in; I was fully aware that I'd told Hiei that it was alright and I was fine and not mad, but the full reality of the situation was finally setting in. If I wasn't working, I wouldn't get money; If I didn't get money, I couldn't pay rent.

Angry tears were beginning to cloud my vision, "Ever since I've been able to work, Mako has relied on me to pay rent and take care of myself, and there's no telling when he'll be back..."

Ryuu remained silent for as long as I spoke which wasn't actually long at all, but didn't speak until I was done.

"Ren," he began softly, "I didn't come here to ask for you forgiveness."

I blinked back hot tears, "What?"

He looked at me seriously and rested a hand on my leg. Infuriated, I reared my hand to smack him, but when I swung, he easily trapped my hand in his and grabbed my other one. I tried to yank them away, but his fists wouldn't give. He pulled me so that I couldn't look anywhere but at his face.

"I know that I can't ask for your forgiveness because I know I don't deserve it," he paused, letting me drink in his words, "So I'm doing the only thing I know I can do and saying sorry." He sounded incredibly sincere. I couldn't say anything except continue to stare into his green eyes.

"I didn't come here to make you more upset, " he continued, "Just to check on you. After you didn't come to school today, I was wor- wondering what was wrong." he paused for a moment to change the word he was about to finish, "But otherwise, I'm sorry."

He released my hands and I let them fall into my lap. After all that Ryuu had done, was I seriously going to let it go just because he was saying sorry to me right now? I thought I was tougher than that! But I couldn't help it. I was tired of being angry and as stubborn as I wanted to be, I just couldn't.

Somehow this terrible guy had become my friend. Maybe not exactly the ideal friend, but still one regardless. And who was to say that he couldn't change for the better after this?

I sighed heavily , torn between wanting to be angry and wanting to let it go, "Whatever. it doesn't matter. No matter how much I yell or how many times someone says sorry, what's done is done. So thanks Ryuu... for the apology and coming to check on me."

I glanced at Ryuu from beneath my hair and was amazed to find a warm smile gracing his face, his cocky grin nowhere to be seen.

"It was no problem."

~.~.~.~.~.

Tatsuya couldn't stop the flow of relief that he felt as Ren's pale face lifted in a tiny smile. Before, he was so sure that she would have never forgiven him, but now she was- well, not forgiving him exactly- putting what had happened behind her. This visit couldn't have been going better. It didn't matter how much Hiei hated him or Kurama suspected him. His mission concerned her, now more than ever. The only thing that struck him as odd though was the personal relief he was feeling. She was supposed to be a job, not something to become attached to; however, he couldn't deny that he'd been having more fun toying with her the past month or so than he should have been. He was able to smile easily while around her and he simply loved making her mad enough for her to blush. He felt a smile coming to his face just thinking about it.

She arched a brow at him and gazed at him with suspicion, "What's that look for?"

"Oh nothing," he snorted, "I was just thinking about how angry Hiei looked when he saw me."

She glared at him and turned her head, "It's not funny- he has every right to be. Say Ryuu,"

Tatsuya cocked his head to the side curiously. The name had so quickly become a part of him, it was strange to think that it was still an alias.

"What?"

"Was apologizing really all you came for?" Ren asked. Tatsuya smirked; no matter what, she always seemed to be suspicious of something. And if she was suspecting that his answer was no, then she would be right.

"Of course not. I wanted to see how you were doing like I already said." Tatsuya wasn't lying, but there was more to it than just wanting to see her. His smile flat-lined as he recalled the day before when Asami had summoned them.

Asami had looked down at them all with another hint of disgust before continuing, "You all have failed to find any sign of where my daughter could be, so I had to take matters into my own hands. Of this entire, miserable city, there is only one that Koenma seems to be trying to keep sheltered from me, regardless of how she's right under our noses. Tatsuya, you must find out once and for all." Asami's ice-cold eyes chilled Tatsuya to the core, "Find out whether Ren Hashi's blood is of my own lineage by whatever means necessary. This time, failure is not acceptable."

Tatsuya frowned. Asami had re-enforced her previous mission, but was now expecting a result that couldn't possibly be there. Tatsuya was positive that Ren couldn't have been more than just a victim of circumstances. She was under Koenma's protection because of the fire demon.

Ren laid back down, "Not good... I've forgotten how long it's been since I've had a cold. It's been a long time."

Tatsuya crossed his arms, "How did you even get it? You seemed fine after yesterday's... spat."

Ren shot him a quick dirty look, "I got wet and I must've gotten a cold from it or something. I don't know." she snapped, "But I'm completely exhausted, like I haven't slept in days. I've been having these really vivid nightmares."

Tatsuya arched a brow, "Nightmares?" Now that she mentioned it, he noticed the light purple bruises appearing underneath her eyes. They were barely noticeable, but still there.

She nodded, blinking slowly like an owl, "Yeah."

"Have you talked to anyone about them?" Tatsuya leaned over, interested.

She glanced at him skeptically, "No... I haven't."

"Not even to Hiei?" Tatsuya pried. What could be bothering her so much that she wouldn't even tell the fire runt?

She stared at the ceiling, looking troubled, and murmured quietly to herself, "No... but I think, maybe, it'd be best to at least tell one person so I can get it off my chest." She closed her eyes, "Promise you won't tell anyone though?"

Tatsuya shrugged, "Yeah, they're just dreams."

"Just dreams..." she repeated hoarsely and frowned, "Ok... I started having them around the time when I met you actually."

_What? _Tatsuya remained silent.

"They seem to take place a long time ago- or at least that's my guess- and they're like no other dream I've ever had; it's amazing how clear they all are in my mind even after all this time. I've only had a couple of different ones, but in each dream there's at least one or two specific girls that they focus on. In my first dream, I was in a field and there was a mother and her daughter. I didn't think anything of it until an old man came into view. Suddenly everything changed, the mother," Ren swallowed hard, "had some kind of grudge against humans-"

"Humans?" Tatsuya repeated, his throat having gone chalk dry.

"Yes- it turned out that the two girls were demons, and then it all becomes a jumble, but I remember there being so much _blood- _she murdered the man even when her daughter tried to stop her," Ren shivered.

"Did they look anything like someone you'd ever seen before?"

Ren shook her head, "No- that's what's so weird about it. It's like what I'm dreaming is someone else's past."

She suddenly tried to grin at him, "Listen to me, talking about demons and dreaming the past," she forced a laugh, "It's probably my sick brain talking crazy! You can just go ahead and forget all of that!"

But Tatsuya wasn't listening anymore- he couldn't hear over the rapid beating of his heart. _It- it can't be..._

"Ren," he whispered, looking down, "Did you happen to catch any... names?"

Ren hesitated, torn on what to say and nervous about how he'd started acting strangely, "Yes, I did. Ryuu, is everything ok-"

"What were they?" Tatsuya cut her off. His hands were clenched so tight, no blood could run through them.

"But Ryuu, they're just dreams like you said, none of it matters-"

"What _were _they?" he stated again, desperately trying to keep his voice in check.

Ren bit her lip, but in the end she finally sighed, "The one I dream most of's name is Kuri, and her mother's name is Asami."

~.~.~.~.~.

"Ryuu, are you sure you're alright? You just got so pale all of the sudden." I said worriedly. Right after I had begun to describe my dream, Ryuu had gone absolutely rigid and the blood had started to drain from his face. I wouldn't have told him any of it if I had guessed that anything like this would have happened. Was he just afraid of my dreams? The guess itself was ridiculous, but it was the only one I could think of.

"I think I should go now." he muttered and stood up with a wobble. He looked about on the verge of collapse.

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, maybe that's a good idea. I'm sorry- you must have gotten sick from me."

He shook his head, but didn't say anything. Without even so much as a goodbye, he stumbled out the door. I could hear Botan's surprised gasp as he left.

I was baffled. What had just happened? I knew it- I shouldn't have mentioned anything about the dumb nightmares. What else could it have been? The only reason I'd said anything was that it was true that I wanted to get it off my chest and Ryuu had nothing to do with any of the situation at hand, so I thought I'd just be helping myself, but in doing so, I upset Ryuu too.

_Uh... that went well, _I thought sourly.

Botan, Kurama, and Hiei trickled back in soon after Ryuu had left. Except Botan more like charged in .

"Ren will _you_ explain to me what just happened? Neither of the boys would tell me, and thanks to them, I just looked like a complete idiot!" She earnestly slid beside me, "I thought you and that boy were, you know." Botan bounced her two pointer fingers together with a mischievous smirk. The blood rushed to my head.

"What?" I stuttered, "Where do you get all of these ideas Botan? He just came over to apologize."

"But what did he do to have to apologize in the first place?" Botan asked insistently.

"It's all behind us now. It doesn't matter anymore." I pursed my lips. Unfortunately, Botan wasn't the only one who didn't take that well.

"It doesn't _matter _anymore?" Hiei barked, "Don't tell me you forgave him! Did you already forget what happened?"

"Hey, look who's talking!" I snapped back, "It wasn't only Ryuu's fault- who was it that fought back?"

Hiei glared sharply, "Are you blind Ren? That human is obviously bad news! Do you think it was just coincidence that he was there last night?"

"Whether it was coincidence or not, it doesn't change what happened!"

Botan turned to Kurama with a grimace, "I don't think we even exist anymore; these two are hopeless! I give up on trying to find out what happened."

"Agreed." Kurama said then turned towards us and cleared his throat, "Well, I think we'll be taking our leave now. With all the ruckus we've caused, it can't be good for your health Ren. Your fever seems to have returned."

The room was already spinning and I plopped back down with an exhausted sigh, but stubbornly glared at Hiei, "Ok... thanks for the visit."

Kurama smiled although still tense, "Of course, get well soon."

Botan wagged a finger, "Yes, we can't have you being ill for a while. We'll visit soon though, bye." She walked out of the room, Kurama following behind her.

Before he left though, he looked over his shoulder, "Hiei, mind coming here for a moment? Besides, Ren should get some rest."

Hiei perked slightly in surprise, but silently trailed after him with a 'hn' nonetheless, closing the door behind him and leaving me in the peace of my room. I was so tired and although I fought to keep my eyes open, I finally let them flutter close, figuring I could at least rest them for a little bit.

The next time they opened though, I was startled by the shadows in my room and the fact that the light was much dimmer than before. I'd only meant to close my eyes for a moment, not fall asleep for another couple of hours.

The small creak of the door was what had woke me up though and I watched as Hiei entered the room quietly. In his hands rested a steaming mug and a bowl of something that was making my mouth water. My stomach growled loudly reminding me that I hadn't eaten all day.

Hiei set his items down on the table, "It's about time you woke up."

I stared at the dishes, "What's this?"

He crossed his arms, "Hn. Kurama made the soup for you and told me to give it to you if you could stomach it."

I sat up and gingerly took the bowl and sipped lightly. My eyes widened- it was delicious!

"Wow! This is delicious! If only I was sick all the time... what is it?"

Hiei shrugged, "He didn't say."

I managed to quickly finish the soup, but there had only been a small amount in the first place and I was sad when I had to set the bowl down, but was surprised to find Hiei sticking the other mug he'd brought towards me.

"Did Kurama make this too?" I asked, taking the cup and looking into the brown, murky liquid with suspicion.

Hiei smirked, "No, he didn't. This is something of my own creation."

"You made this?" I asked in amazement. I sniffed the concoction and almost choked. I thrust it far away from me.

"It smells putrid!"

Hiei chuckled, his red eyes gleaming, "You should quit complaining and just drink it. It's guaranteed to cure even the most persistently ill demons."

"Demons?" I quoted incredulously, feeling nauseous "This is demon medicine?"

"Yes."

"... is this a nightmare? Are you trying to poison me?" I shot a sly glance in his direction. He scowled deeply and glared at me.

"Just drink the damn stuff! I did not waste my or Kurama's time in making that."

"Alright, alright! I'll do it," I cried back. I stared into the disgusting looking mug once more before holding my breath and drinking it all in four large swallows.

I blinked in surprise, drawing the mug away from my lips. It hadn't been as bad as I'd imagined it to be.

"I'm feeling better already!" I confessed, bewildered, "Hiei, where did you learn to make this?"

Hiei smirked at my reaction, "Some bandit demons that I used to travel with in my youth often made it when one of us would fall ill. It's been a while, so I'm not sure if the recipe was exactly the same, but the effect seems to have worked as it should."

"Bandit demons, huh. I didn't know you used to travel with bandits."

"Not many do."

"So... were you a bandit too?"

Hiei barked a laugh, "I've committed crimes that your small mind wouldn't be able to handle. Calling myself a mere bandit would be a serious understatement."

"You're a criminal?" I asked in disbelief.

Hiei snorted, "Hn. It doesn't matter anymore. Like you, I can put things behind me." he flashed me a mocking grin.

"That's not fair," I whined.

"Hn, life's not fair." he parried.

I sighed, setting the mug down, "Fine then, but anyways, what was even that stuff?"

"The ingredients used to make it aren't exactly easy to get your hands on in the human world, so I had to improvise. Although the bandits typically used the liver of native animals, we had to settle for-"

"Stop. Right. There. " I muttered. "On second thought, I don't want to know anymore." At the word _liver, _I already wanted to throw it back up.

"Hn, whatever. I don't care." Hiei stood up, "Kurama instructed me to tell you to go back to sleep once you'd eaten. You'll regain your strength faster."

Even though I had already slept most of the day, my full belly was already making me sleepy again, so I nodded and closed my eyes again.

~.~.~.~.~.

I stretched, feeling more refreshed and better than I had in a while. After taking Hiei's 'special' medicine and having a dreamless sleep, I was feeling fantastic! It was hard to believe that I had been so bed ridden just the day before.

Hiei and I were on our way to school like we had done many times before, but this time we were exchanging bits of idle chatter. Idle chatter meaning a mixture of sarcastic remarks and witty insults, but nonetheless chatter.

I laughed and reached up to pull on my ribbon by habit, but my fingers only tugged on hair, reminding me that I had actually left it at home today. I hadn't realized just how close I always kept the ribbon with me until now, my long hair enjoying its freedom by swishing in the wind. I didn't really know how to explain it. Maybe Hiei had been right about me not being myself because I was always trying to connect with my deceased mother. But I honestly hadn't felt like I wasn't more of myself than ever since I'd met him- he easily coaxed the best and worst out of me as if he meant to.

_"You should wear your hair down more often- it looks nice." _

Hiei's words echoed in my head and my cheeks warmed just thinking about it. I hadn't imagined the whole thing either. This morning when I met him outside, he seemed to acknowledge it by arching a brow at my hair even though he hadn't exactly said anything outright.

My good morning was soon to be dampened though because when we'd taken our seats in the classroom and the bell had rung, the seat next to me remained empty. Ryuu's pale face flashed in front of me and I couldn't help but be worried. He couldn't have been absent of yesterday... right?

And as the morning passed by, the worried feelings already churning inside me only grew. I grew increasingly anxious. I couldn't shake it off either- I tried chiding myself that there was no reason to be feeling this way, but my nerves only continued to be on end.

At lunch when Hiei and I found ourselves on the roof like normal, I didn't even have to voice my thoughts.

"Something's happening- I can feel it in the air." Hiei's entire body was stiff.

"So I'm not imagining it," I wrung my hands nervously, "But what is it? I haven't seen any ES in days! And nobody's attacked us since the dream and nightmare demons."

"I know."

"What should we do? I don't know how we can get in touch with anyone."

Hiei growled, staring into the distance, "All we can do is hope that they get here soon." And that was that. We really _couldn't _do anything- we were completely powerless against anything. Yusuke and Kuwabara arriving to our rescue at the nick of time had been a fluke. The chance of another chance rescue was slim to none. A light hum began to echo in the air.

After a meal that I barely tasted, we returned to the room. As I glanced out the window, even the sky was beginning to darken. A mass of black clouds were moving in from the horizon and were headed directly towards us. But as restless and antsy as most of the students were getting, none of them seemed to notice the incoming storm at all. The light hum I'd thought I heard earlier seemed to grow.

I gazed out at the darkening sky, feeling my stomach clench in fear, concentrating on the black storm clouds rolling in. Whatever was coming, it was something big for it be so prominent in the air. Hiei stood beside me and also looked at the sky.

"You don't think it's going to thunder do you?" I squeaked at him nervously, my face pale.

As he studied the sky, his eyes began to widen and he took an involuntary step back, his fangs bared, "That's no thunderstorm!"

"What?" The hum was no longer subtle and had transformed into a deep buzzing. And that's when I realized that the black clouds were moving way fast to be any rain cloud. My terrible premonition was beginning to dawn on me: they weren't clouds at all. When they was close enough, we could even see the glints of purple.

An enormous swarm of ES were coming straight for the school- and with another glance around the room, I realized that no one could see them either.

"Hiei, we have to get everyone out!" I screamed at him, alarming several girls nearby who clearly didn't know what I was talking about. I turned around on the class, almost all eyes already on me.

"We have to go _now!_ We're in danger!" I pleadingly yelled at them, but they all only looked me like I was crazy. I flashed Hiei a look of despair- the swarm was almost on the building!

Hiei grit his teeth and growled at them, all of them taking a step back, "You fools! If you don't evacuate now, you'll all die!"

And that's when chaos erupted. The entire structure trembled and people began to scream. The lights even flickered. It felt like an earthquake. The doors were practically torn down in the stampeded to escape the room.

There was no time to freeze in terror. I swooped down to my bag and pulled out the barely used bug spray Botan had given to me so long ago and turned to Hiei who was yelling at me.

"Just in case," I showed him the can and we sprinted out the door and were instantly thrown into a crowded hall of screaming people. I was almost separated from Hiei right off the bat, but I lashed out for his hand and as soon as I felt the familiar warmth, I knew I hadn't lost him.

He yanked me towards the side and out of the heavy stream and I glanced out the window. A large pool of people, pedestrians that had just been passing by, students, and teachers were gathering by the school gates. Hiei and I were on the third floor and with the flooded halls, we didn't have the opportunity of getting out easily.

The glass windows on both sides suddenly shattered and flurries of the insects raced in and dived into the crowd of people. Students began falling left and right as I watched in horror. I pointed the spigot at the crowd and closed my eyes, releasing the spirit flames. The bugs were charred into ash almost instantly, but only more continued streaming in.

Hiei grabbed my hand again, "We have to go!"

I didn't resist as he pulled me in the opposite direction of the crowd, and the strangest thing happened. The bugs that had been latching onto random people released them and started flying in our direction._ They're after Hiei and me?_

I skidded to a halt and aimed the nozzle and fired. The swarm behind us disappeared, but a second one didn't even pause. I turned to run again, but I'd lost my balance and I came crashing down, the can skidding out of my hand.

"Ren!" Hiei had just noticed me, but the swarm was already right next to me. I squeezed my eyes and screamed.

"Shotgun!" rays of blue light flew through the air and I cracked an eye open, Hiei already rushing over to me.

"Hey guys! How could you start the party without us?" Yusuke grinned cockily, holding his fist. Hiei quickly helped me up as Yusuke, followed by Kurama and Kuwabara, ran up to us.

"Thanks Yusuke." I said graciously.

"No problem, glad we got here when we did or you might've been zapped. " Yusuke joked although I didn't find it too funny.

"Stop showing off Urameshi! This is serious!" Kuwabara yelled, summoning his glowing sword.

Kurama reached behind him and pulled out a rose, "Yes, I must agree. There's no time to lose. Hiei, take Ren and focus on getting out to safety. We'll clear a path for you as best we can."

I expected Hiei to try and resist Kurama like he always did, but Hiei just growled and said, "Right." I stared at him in shock.

"I'll admit that I might not be of much help because my rose whip only cuts which will do nothing to stop the regeneration of their bodies, but it will buy time which is the goal for now." Kurama's rose was covered in a silvery light and extended into the thorny whip I'd caught a glimpse of that night he'd fought Tatsuya.

A loud buzzing appeared at the end of the hall and a large group of the ES charged for us. Hiei yanked me behind him, the other three crouching down and preparing to attack.

"Go now Hiei!" Kurama cried out as the three burst forward in an attack. It all happened so fast, I couldn't follow. I was swung onto Hiei's back and he sprinted straight forward, ignoring everything around us. I ducked my head into his shoulder as I saw some of the bugs aiming for his blind side, but they were seared to oblivion when a flash of orange swept them away. Kuwabara was suddenly grinning triumphantly and running beside us.

"What do you think you're doing Kuwabara?" Hiei yelled.

"While Kurama and Urameshi are busy clearing out the icky bugs, I've been put in charge of keeping them out of the way of you two so you don't have to worry runt!"

"Kuwabara, ahead!" I gasped as we kept charging forward.

Kuwabara snapped to attention and slashed through another mass. We finally reached the stairwell and I squealed as another attack swooped in from above. I knew it wasn't a trick of my eye- their numbers were only growing faster and faster. Although Hiei was already rushing down the stairs, if we didn't get out right now, there'd be too many.

As Hiei rounded the corner to go down the next stairwell, another mass suddenly appeared in front of us and Hiei stumbled backwards and thrust into the window behind him. Glass exploded and we were suddenly hanging in the mid-air. I had no time to react as I felt Hiei's body twist under me and I was suddenly being clutched in a familiar grip and turned up. Hiei cried out loudly as his back slammed into the ground, sliding for a few feet before coming to a stop.

I opened my shut eyes and coughed on the clouds of dirt that'd been thrown into the air with our landing. Hiei was looking at me through a cracked eye, breathing heavily.

"Hiei! Are you alright?" I scooted back and tried helping him up. He gasped harshly and clutched his side, clenching his jaw.

"Human bodies aren't durable at all." he panted, the wind knocked out of him.

"Thank goodness that you're not though," I cried, "There's no way you could have survived that fall if you were- and you even shifted me out of the way. I would've been killed for sure."

I looked up at the hole in the wall where Kuwabara was moving as if he were standing on hot coals, looking panicked, "Are you guys ok?"

"We're ok," I called back up and then gasped, "Kuwabara, behind you!"

Kuwabara whirled around just in time to slash out at the bugs, but after taking a step back and completely stepping over the edge, he began to fall backwards.

"Kuwabara!" I screamed and thrust myself into Hiei, shielding my eyes. But right after the landing, the sound of cursing met my ears and I slowly turned to him in disbelief. Kuwabara was swinging his sword around, obviously mad, as if he had just been tripped and not fallen down two stories.

"H-how is he not dead?" I stuttered. Hiei looked disappointed.

"He's like a cockroach."

Kuwabara jogged over to us, "That was a pretty nasty fall Hiei, are you ok?"

"Hey guys, you ok?" We all looked up to see Yusuke, followed by Kurama, racing towards us.

I clutched a fist to my chest, "Yes, we're fine."

A sudden series of explosions shook the ground and we looked at the school. The ES had ceased to follow us and only continued to swarm around the school, making some of the windows turn black from sheer numbers. Parts of the school were beginning to crumble and a cloud of smoke began to stretch its black arm towards the sky. The shrill sound of fire engines screamed through the air.

"Oh thank goodness you all are safe!" Botan whizzed down on a floating oar and scrambled over towards us, dropping down by my side to check for any injuries, "As soon as Kurama sensed the energy spike, I went straight to Koenma."

"That wasn't really necessary." The gentle, chilling voice made everyone jump, but I remained rooted to the spot, my eyes wide. _I know that voice._

Kuwabara looked around wildly, "Uh guys, I wasn't the only one who heard that right?"

"Come on out and show your ugly face!" Yusuke called out. "I have a feeling we have you thank for all of this."

"My, my Yusuke, where _are_ your manners?" the chuckle that followed came from behind us and we all whirled around. I gasped out loud.

The woman was tall and graceful, her outrageously blue eyes glittering. As if I were really in a dream, an image of her accepting a colorful bouquet from Kuri flashed behind my eyes.

_Asami._

She was even more domineering in person than she had been in my dreams. Silky black hair ran down her back like water and her porcelain skin looked almost translucent. She was the most beautiful and most frightening woman I'd ever seen.

"Who the hell are you and how do you know me?" Yusuke didn't waste in time in aiming a deadly finger in her direction.

"I'd recognize Raizen's heir anywhere." The look she gave Yusuke was downright murderous for a second, before they turned stony again. Yusuke unconsciously took a step back, shocked.

"You must be Asami," Kurama stated, bearing his rose whip.

Asami stuck out a white arm and curled her fingers, "As perceptive as always Kurama, but I did not personally come here for useless conversation. I have much more pressing issues to attend to." Her eyes slowly fell over everyone's face and then ever so gently landed onto mine. I forgot how to breathe.

Hiei pushed himself up and took a step in front of me, "What the hell are you getting at?"

Asami grimaced at Hiei, "This is none of your business, fire demon. Ah," light realization crossed her face, "You're the one whose energy Minoru was able to take away. Hiei." She tapped her chin lightly, "Maybe I should go ahead and fix his one error though. You weren't supposed to have lived to see the light of the next morning."

Hiei growled menacingly and clenched his hands, but Asami had already moved on, "Come, my dear... Kuri, it's time for you to return to me. My daughter,"

The group exchanged equally confused looks, but it was as if I'd become frozen. _Kuri?_

"You're obviously out of your mind lady." Yusuke laughed and stretched his shoulders, "So we'll do you a favor and just put you out of your misery."

Asami giggled and I felt a chill run down my back, "You'd like to put _me _out of my misery? I'd love to see you try."

"You asked for it!"

"Wait, Yusuke-!" Kurama tried to protest, but to no avail.

"_Shotgun!"_ The blue balls of energy shot towards her at full speed, but she didn't move. She didn't do anything.

I watched in stunned silence as the attack made impact, but when the dust cleared, my heart leapt into my throat.

"What!" Yusuke shouted.

A clear bubble surrounded Asami, the balls of energy sticking to it like Velcro. She was untouched. She smirked.

"Oh crap."

Everyone flew in different directions as Yusuke's attack was redirected. Hiei wrapped an arm around me and tried jumping back, but I knew that the fall had hurt him more than he would admit. We weren't going to be able to avoid the blast!

But the instant one of the blue balls came within a few feet of us, it imploded. We landed on the ground, unharmed, the traces of a similar shield shimmering around us.

Asami grimaced, "You're clever to have held onto her like that fire demon. Only Kuri would have been able to deflect that blow. But at least now I know for certain."

My eyes widened. _Wait... could she be meaning that she thought _I _was Kuri?_

Asami sighed, "It's a pity. I was looking forward to our reunion, but so be it. I've waited so long already, a little longer won't hurt. We will not remain separated my dear. I promise." There was a flash of light, a swish of her bloody kimono, and Asami vanished into thin air.

I didn't even have a moment to realize what was happening before, my vision wavered and I was falling forward.

"Ren!" I heard Hiei call out my name, but I had already blacked out before I even hit the ground.

* * *

><p>**I don't know what types of typical antibiotics that you would find in the average Japanese home, but the three medicines I listed are pretty frequently found in my house, that's for sure xP Poor Hiei, so clueless no matter how hard he tries not to seem...<p>

Ho hum...

Hm..

This chapter looked much, MUCH better in my mind, let me tell you that. Oh well, as long as I keep the plot progessing~ Who said I wouldn't have a few bumps in the road XD

Oh! My friend just mentioned to me how Hiei's little medicine scene was somewhat similar to a scene from Inuyasha! I PROMISE that I did not steal that scene O.O I didn't even realize that I'd copied it - and I thought I was original -_-' I must've just unconsciously referenced it from the back of my mind xP

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGGOMG! (can you spot the typo? LOL) The time for college applications has COME! DUN DUN DUN- T-T I'm going to go cry to sleep now! So this is fair warning, that I MIGHT not be able to update next wednesday because my goal is to get rid of all this school junk I have to do in the next couple of days or so! But no worries, I believe I can do it! Plus, I have the motivation of updating to keep me going!

Shoot me a review for good luck (and extra motivation *hint hint*)? ;3 or just Review because you actually liked it? XDD

Anyways, **REVIEW~! **

Love InuChimera7410


	12. Up In Smoke

**Kshepps27:** I was literally JUST about to update when I got your review! xD Perfect timing so I could reply :3 Thanks for the luck! Now I hope you really enjoy this chapter! I'm excited myself~! *squeeee*

**MyLifeInWhole:** Thanks! :D I'm almost done! *epic pose* Except, now school's right around the corner... -_- lol summer reading...that I haven't quite started yet...

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**RedInk: **Then you share my pain T_T But we'll pull through xD

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**Heve-chan: **Thanks, that makes me feel better :D Thanks for the review, and I hope this chapter pleases!

**Tay:** xD Lol! I actually looked up those flowers in the first place! Yes, they're pretty c: But I'm not actually sure if they grow in Japan... Well, I say they do! And thanks for the reassurance! :DD I hope you like this chapter! And the slightly humorous scene later... teehee :3

**no name 128: **Ah, we're actually hearing from Genkai in a couple of chapters ;D But I hope I keep you interested because things might not actually be as you think o.O Maybe... Unless you just read my mind and are just genius! xD

**Helen: **Waa thank you! I hope you like this chapter!

**middlekertz: **Yes I am :D Wow, good luck in college! I'm almost there :) Thank you for the review ! I don't have a Beta and I'm just so eager to post, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I don't look over anything xD I'm just so lazy... And who knows about Tatsuya/Ryuu... xD

**hii-chan: **LOL~! Yes he did! xD Well, if it makes you feel better, imagine it in epic slow motion while Hiei is trying to protect Ren :3 That's how I did! XD

**TallyYoungblood: **Thanks :D Yup, things are finally starting to happen! I just wanted Ren and Hiei to get a little comfortable with each other before things started to happen too much o.o

**FireStorm1991: **Yes... I suppose it was a little obvious, just because it's something to be expected, but I'm excited to reveal the background story :D I put a lot of thought into it and I can't wait for it to come out!

**Guest: **I KNOW. Stupid Ryuu is a BARREL. (lol~ pewdiepie reference... I don't even know if you know who that is xD) But yes, unfortunately Ryuu is pretty scared of Asami, so he didn't want to get killed :P Wow, I'm glad you liked it so much! Lol! The SUSPENSE! Well, for now poor Ren is still innocent until proven guilty! o.O You'll just have to read-on to find out more ;D

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**DemonMiko Jenna: **Yes, Ren is pretty oblivious to many things, along with the fact that she has no suspicion whatsoever about Ryuu being Tatsuya who she's actually terrified of... I'm sorry I couldn't update like normal, but I hope this chapter was worth it! :D

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Thank you so much for all your support including reviews, faves, and alerts! Each one is fuel for my fire! Enjoy! :3

**Chapter 12 Up In Smoke**

Kuri closed her eyes and allowed the evening breeze to tickle her face, stray bits of hair whipping playfully in her face. She gazed across the horizon towards the red-gold sunset slowly sinking behind the trees. The usual vibrant air of life was beginning to quiet as it always did at this time, and the different, more melodious sounds of night was taking its time to emerge. For the past 50 years, she'd been able to claim this breathtaking world as her home, and she knew that she would miss it with a despairing and heavy heart.

She shook her head with a frown. _It's not like all of this will go away though... Mama and I just won't be able to stay here anymore. _

When Asami had announced, quite out of the blue, that they needed to leave the mountain, Kuri had been nothing less than shocked. Throughout her entire childhood, her mother had been severely strict, to the point of being cruel at times, about keeping her locked away on the mountain, absolutely forbidden from interacting with the outside world, especially the humans that inhabited the areas around the base. When Asami hunted, she would always leave Kuri by herself and return with her fresh kill- human.

But regardless of how much Asami urged and tried to force her, Kuri wouldn't touch any of it.

_"Devil's child!"_

Kuri squeezed her eyes, unable to quiet the terrified screams that had haunted her since that day when her mother had caught her sneaking down the mountain for the last time- she'd made sure of it. Kuri's chest began to ache as the clear memory surged forward. The sick man. The blood. His terrifying pleas- her mother. Then the sword coming down on top of her-

Kuri yanked out of the memory, trembling slightly and forcing herself to relax once more and refocus on the peace of the land. It seemed to be the only time when she had any peace.

After that day 40 years ago, Kuri had refused to eat anything that Asami brought her. Her main diet consisted of human- it was nature, Asami would insist viciously, it was how they needed to survive- but Kuri would not budge on this decision, and she quickly found that animal meat was a suitable, although not as ideal, substitute. Something about that day had left a profound wound in her, and it wasn't one that bled or could be seen unlike the one her very own mother had inflicted upon her, but one that scarred much more deeply into the corners of her being.

But Asami was quick to explain the reason for the unfathomable move. As much as it made Kuri sick to her stomach, Asami admitted that her "convenient" supply of human villages at the bottom of the mountain were becoming densely populated and more villages were being settled further and further up the mountain. Kuri had noticed there being more and more human houses every time she looked over the trees although they were miles away. A castle had even been built and Kuri couldn't help but admire the amazing manner even from afar.

"With so many humans now and no other demons, we've been made vulnerable here, Kuri." Asami explained, "So as to continue living peacefully and be able to continue with our lifestyle, I've decided that we must go into hiding."

"Hiding?" Kuri had stuttered.

"Yes, but we will not be driven into the dark by a bunch of sniveling humans. No, we will hide somewhere where we will be least suspected of being found, somewhere that the humans wouldn't dare to ever look- yes, we will work our way to the very _heart_ of their village, and _rule_ them. The very idea is mouthwatering and delightful. Be prepared, my dear, whether you like it or not. The Lord of that castle will not live to see the light of tomorrow. I will come fetch you when the deed is done."

Kuri had watched without another word as Asami fled from her sight down the mountain, and then she had turned away, forcing herself to abandon the guilt she felt. But she knew that it was only as escapable as her guilt from 40 years ago. It would never leave her. Bitter remorse twisted her soul.

She'd never wanted this. She'd never wanted this at all. Whatever past plagued her mother's... it wasn't Kuri's. Asami's passionate hatred for humans could never be shared because there was never any reason for Kuri to hate them in the first place.

Kuri had grown up completely alone and in isolation. She had never felt the kindness of a friend or companion other than her mother. Deep down, that hole had always eaten away at her. Then that one day, Kuri had discovered humans and from the very beginning, all she wanted - all she had ever wanted- was to be with them- to be _human_. Before Asami had discovered her, Kuri couldn't count how many times she'd traveled down already. She would spend long hours on the treetops just watching as families worked, friends laughed, and children played. She'd always wanted to join in too. But it was never meant to be. And after Kuri had been caught, that'd been the end of it.

She came to believe that Kami had placed a curse on her- whenever she was so close to the very thing she desired, it was always brutally taken away and she would be the one forced to carry that burden. Besides, her mother had always told her so. Every innocent human that died... it was her fault.

Kuri clenched her fists tightly, not even noticing the small trail of blood that began to drip down. She held her head high and all the heavy emotion was wiped clean from her face as she constructed her facade, leaving a completely unreadable slate.

_I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... Any person that discovers who I am, _what _I am, always ends up being killed. If I get close to anything, it will be taken away. But I'm taking an oath right now so that it won't ever happen anymore- I will _never again _reveal what I really am to anyone. No one must ever know... if I let another human get killed because of me, I don't know if I'll be able to go on. _

~.~.~.~.~

Everything was fuzzy when Kuri finally opened her eyes. She was confused, disoriented, and still lightheaded, and the cozy warmth that enshrouded her only added to her lack of focus.

But when things finally began to register, she noted the absent of the stars and the night sky and that instead of soaking in the hot spring, she was tucked under a thick blanket on a futon. She was in a large room, closed off with familiar intricate screen doors. Her eyes wandered, still slightly unfocused.

_I'm... back in the castle. How did I get here? What happened...? _Kuri suddenly stiffened when the soft click of the door reached her sensitive ears.

She smelt him before actually seeing him. Her mind went blank and her heart began to pound, but she made herself remain still and wiped her face clean of any thought or emotion. That's right: a human had found her bathing in the hot spring! Then the next thing she knew, the world had spun out of control and she had been claimed by darkness. As much as she tried, the light blush that dusted her cheeks couldn't be suppressed.

The door slid completely open and there was a light gasp followed by a sigh of relief. Kuri stared at the human boy with slightly wide eyes as he smiled at her sheepishly, his face scarlet. The boy couldn't be older than 20 and looked to be at the peak of his youth- in her own youth, Kuri had only seen more children and the elderly as they were the ones that typically weren't working away from the village. The boy had dark hair that was tied up in the back and dark warm eyes. She couldn't pull her own away from them.

He hurriedly set down the small bucket of water he'd been holding and got down on all fours and leaned towards her, looking into her flushed face.

"Good... you're finally awake!" a musical rumble hummed in his chest, "Oh, you must be warm- your face is still flushed. Here," he reached for a cool cloth and dipped it into the bucket. After ringing out the excess water, he motioned the cloth towards her but stopped short when he saw her body go rigid, her eyes even wider.

"Who are you?" Kuri cursed herself. The question had come out more as a whimper than with the firm tone she had desired. She found her voice again, stronger this time, "_Who are you?_ How dare you come here!" She found herself rising and stared down the shocked boy. She pushed the blanket down and twisted around to face him full on, her mind buzzing with a sudden high.

"You should not be here!" she hissed as menacingly as she could. The boy began to sputter, strangled cries falling off his lips in broken strands of speech. His face looked like it was on fire. Taken aback and confused, Kuri noticed how he'd ceased to look at her but was looking more south. Curiously, she followed his gaze.

She froze.

"_Don't look!" _With a scream and her own face entirely red, she grabbed the rim of the full bucket easily with one hand and smashed it into the side of the stunned boy's face. She yanked the blanket back up to cover herself as he went down.

"OW!" The boy raised his hands to his tender skin where the wood had left a good imprint.

"_Pervert!_" Kuri shrieked and prepared to deliver another blow, until he raised his hands over his head in an effort of protection, his head ducked down. Even with his face covered, Kuri could see the tips of his ears were bright red.

"Please hold on a second! I'm not a pervert!" he shouted at her and she paused mid-swing. She watched in silence as he began to strip off his kimono, the bucket tense in her hands and his head still down, but she was completely off-guard when the removed clothing was suddenly thrown her way. She dropped the bucket in surprise to catch the unexpected piece of wear. She stared at the back of the boy's head in confusion, but he would not lift it.

"P-please put that on- just to cover up for now at least." He stuttered and she turned red again. She stared at the kimono dubiously until he spoke again, "Can I look now?" Kuri squeaked and shook her head although he couldn't see.

"N-no." After another beat of hesitation, she pulled the kimono on and sealed the front tightly. It was a bit big, but it covered everything that needed to be hid. The boy started to rise cautiously, unsure if she was ready or not, but since there was no speech of protest he lifted his head all the way. His mouth was pressed in a line and he stared hard at her with nervous determination, his face still flushed; Kuri stared back, unaware that her facade was crumbling. Several agonizing moments of silence passed.

And then Kuri jumped with a cry of surprise when the boy suddenly smashed his head to the ground in a brutal dogeza* and soon enough he was vomiting talk at a non-stop pace, his words stumbling over each other, "I'm sorry! I'm sorrrry! Don't hurt me- I meant no harm! My name is Riku Yuminu I'm just a harmless man from a neighboring village and I was looking for the Lord of the castle because I'm in desperate need of work, but as I was walking along a narrow path that leads down into the village, a patch of rocks became loose and I was suddenly rolling down the mountain side and I found you - I wasn't peeping! And then you suddenly passed out in the spring and I couldn't let you drown! So I fished you out of the water and carried you inside the mansion. I helped myself to finding bedding so you could be more comfortable. I didn't see anyone around, so I didn't know what else to do, but now that you're here and you're ok," he pressed himself even closer to the ground, if that was possible.

"Please, I beg of you! I need work. Please give me a job here."

Kuri blinked, stunned. That had been quite a mouthful. Her mind turned the matter over carefully in her mind, "... Why on Earth should I give you a job?"

The boy- Riku- gazed at her with a sinking face, but then his eyes hardened with determination and he stared her straight in the eye, "... If I may be so bold, Miss," he paused to make sure that he had her undivided attention, "You owe me for saving your life."

Riku's declaration echoed in her head. He couldn't be _serious_- she felt herself begin to stir at the pure comedy of the statement, "You can't be-"

"No, I'm very serious, my Lady." Riku asserted before she could speak and then (more calmly this time) lowered himself into a dogeza once more, "Please... I'm only asking for a job. Nothing more."

Kuri closed her eyes, the decision weighing heavily on her heart. If Asami had been here, Riku would have been shredded to pieces before her very eyes. Ever since Asami and Kuri had come to inhabit the castle, they had plenty of human staff to do their bidding and attend to them, but then she remembered her oath... She took a deep breath. If she didn't take this human in and Asami smelt that a stranger had invaded the castle, she'd have his head for sure.

"Very well, " she said softly, almost whispering to the point where Riku barely heard it. He lifted his head with glistening, hopeful eyes, "From now on, you will be my personal attendant. You will be required to do all of my bidding as I see fit and there will be no excuse for refusing any request."

"Yes! Yes, fine! Thank you, my Lady-"

"Don't call me that... you will refer my mother with that title. She is the lady of the castle."

Riku blinked, "Yes... princess," He cleared his throat, "And may I inquire one more thing from the princess?"

Kuri glanced at him cautiously, but nodded.

"What is my charge's name?" Riku breathed, lightheaded from relief and curiosity.

"Kuri... My name is Kuri."

~.~.~.~.~

"It doesn't make any sense!" Koenma hissed as he paced the small living room for the umpteenth time. Kurama sighed.

"Please Koenma, getting so upset won't solve anything."

"Yeah binky breath, so why don't you just sit down and shut up."

"Shut up Yusuke!" Koenma shouted back, but was cut off when Hiei growled sharply.

"Do any of you morons understand the meaning of the word _quiet?_ She's still asleep and your useless blathering will wake her." Hiei snapped.

Right after the fiasco at the school, the group had fled the scene and brought Ren back to her apartment. Botan was currently tending to her back in her room while the boys discussed what had happened. She hadn't woken up yet and maybe it was for the better because as soon as she did, she would be subjected to thorough questioning.

Koenma, Kurama, and Yusuke were around the couches, Hiei was leaning against the wall by the door that led into Ren's room, and Kuwabara was posted right outside the front in charge of watch.

Koenma threw his hands up into the air, "That's the least of our concerns! What matters right now is that Asami just _blew up_ a school and we didn't even- and then she said- and then Ren- Oh man, I'm so screwed if we don't do anything soon."

Kurama crossed his arms, falling into deep thought, "There must be some explanation for all of this Koenma. We were all there too- we understand how lost you are, for the rest of us have been cast into the dark as well. No one here knows what Asami meant by calling Ren her daughter either."

Koenma banged his head on the wall.

Yusuke grunted, "Ugh! My head hurts- it was never wired to have to think this much. Hey binky breath, I would expect the Spirit World to have a better source of information on background checks or something like that."

"Don't be an idiot Yusuke, of course we do, and that's what's even more confusing. Ren just _can't _be Asami's daughter."

Kurama perked, "So you checked her?"

"I'd had her checked even before this happened, from the very beginning, just to be sure." Koenma ran a hand through his hair in annoyance, "Usually, this information is confidential so I'm trusting that none of you will go and blab to her that you know about any of this and I won't go into details, but Ren's mother and father were definitely human. Long story short, Minako Hashi- her mother- met a man in a bar very young and they both had a couple drinks too many. Both were definitely human, so she couldn't possibly be Asami's."

Hiei stared at Koenma, the terrible explanation leaving more unanswered questions than not, "What happened with them?"

Koenma turned to Hiei with an arched eyebrow and started slowly, "It's not really my business to say so, unless Ren herself is the one to do it."

Yusuke said, "Ok, we get it, it's not our damn business, but hey I know! What if she's like Kurama?"

"In what way Yusuke?" Kurama asked.

"You know, how you were born. It's possible that she did something like that too right?" Yusuke pushed.

Kurama frowned, " As plausible as it may seem, it's not very likely. If she were that powerful of a demon, there would be no reason for her not to know herself. Besides, we've all felt her energy levels ourselves. No offense to her, but they're hardly worth mentioning."

"Well, yes, but that doesn't explain how she summoned that force field..." Koenma said.

"Isn't it obvious then?" Hiei snapped, "This Asami obviously has no idea what she's talking about. There's something wrong with her head. I don't know why we're wasting time with just doing nothing; what we have to focus on now is hunting her down." He finished darkly.

Kurama smirked, "Do you mean to say that you know where the enemy's hide out is then, Hiei?"

Hiei's haughty bravado deflated and he turned his head to the side with a, "Hn."

Kurama turned back to the other two, "Now, where were-" He suddenly stopped mid-sentence and whipped his head towards the door. Confused, the rest of them turned to look to and with the sudden silence, muffled voices could suddenly be heard. One was definitely Kuwabara's, but the other's was aggravated and unknown. Hiei's eyes widened in realization and he stood straight. He knew that voice.

Koenma yelped and dived into the next room not wanting to be seen.

"_Ren!"_

The door slammed open and a tall man came stomping in, Kuwabara clutching him in a futile effort to stop him.

"Stop mister! You can't just barge into people's houses!" Kuwabara grunted as he tried to pull him back.

The man's face was almost purple with rage and he stopped to shoot Kuwabara a death glare, "This _IS _my house!"

Kuwabara gaped, "What?"

The man turned back around to return the baffled faces of the rest of the room until his eyes fell on Hiei's and his mouth dropped open. He stabbed a finger at him.

"I know you!" He said accusingly, but before Hiei could say anything in return a quiet voice suddenly punctured the tension.

"Mako?" Hiei turned around as Ren came out of her room, Botan on her side steadying her. She was pale and looked tired, but was otherwise unhurt.

Kuwabara was sent sprawling as Mako kicked him down without hesitation and sprinted over to join Ren's side, "Ren! Honey, are you alright? What's wrong?"

Ren stared at him with wide eyes, "No, Mako I'm fine, but... what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" Mako repeated incredulously, "Ren, how do you think I felt when I turned on the news to find that your school had been blown up? They were saying how it was a_ terrorist attack! _I had to come straight home to check that you were alright." Mako's voice cracked and Ren looked slightly panicked. Letting go of Botan's support, she raised her hands in an effort to comfort him.

"No no! I'm ok! See? I'm fine Mako."

He folded her into his arms and clutched her tightly much to her chagrin, "I'm glad... I was so worried."

"Mako," she whined pitifully, only too aware of the several pairs of eyes trained on her and her uncle, "People are watching..." she mumbled, feeling her cheeks burn. She could see Hiei smirking as he, "Hn'd."

Mako let her go and looked around to said people, eyeing them all warily, "So are these your erm... friends?" His eyes trained on Kuwabara and he frowned.

"Yeah Mako... don't worry they were just leaving," I flashed a desperate glance at Botan and she instantly sprang into action, winking subtly at me.

"Yes we were! Come on boys, let's go." Botan veered around us and latched onto Kurama's hand. She waved a quick goodbye over her shoulder.

"I'll come check on you later Ren!" and she yanked Kurama out of sight with a giggle despite his protests. Yusuke chuckled and proceeded to drag Kuwabara in a similar manner, except by his foot rather than hand. His protests were a little louder.

_Which leaves the problem of Hiei...again, _Ren thought sourly. She had no desire to go out whatsoever, but she needed to do something quickly lest she have Mako notice how Hiei wasn't going anywhere.

"Hiei, wait up," I said out loud although he clearly hadn't been about to go anywhere, "Mako, thank you for checking on me, but I was just about to go out to get some fresh air. I'll meet you outside Hiei." I looked at Hiei with a twisted smile, channeling the message. He rolled his eyes, but actually left.

Mako shot a worried glance at Hiei's back and turned back to Ren as the door was closed behind him. Taking a deep breath, he looked her seriously in the eye.

"Ren, what's going on?"

Ren's hands went clammy, but she tried putting on a confused smile instead, "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just I have this feeling..." he trailed off and suddenly looked embarrassed, "As your guardian, I- er..."

Ren frowned. Now she was really concerned.

Mako cleared his throat, "You're not ... doing anything with that Hiei guy right?"

Ren blinked in confusion. Mako sighed.

"Ok, enough beating around the bush. You're not involved together right? You know, the birds and the bees..."

Ren blinked again. And again. Then her face erupted and she shrieked, "_What?_ No! I- ah- how could you-" Her mind couldn't even formulate coherent thoughts.

Witnessing her alarm, Mako tried to settle her down, "Ok sorry! I take it back... I'm sorry honey. I just have a bad feeling, but it's probably nothing."

Ren's head was still spinning, but she nodded anyways and pointed weakly at the door, "Yeah... I need... fresh air."

Mako grimaced, "Yeah, go ahead, but don't be long honey. I'm not convinced that it's really safe out right now."

Ren mumbled an okay in reply and staggered out the door. Mako heard Hiei ask her what had taken so long, but he couldn't catch what she said in return then the door closed blocking out all other conversation. Mako sighed with concern and shook his head.

_Adolescents._

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei and I walked together in a comfortable silence that suited us both. I really wasn't feeling that well anyway, but I did think the fresh air was clearing my head. Before Hiei or I knew it, we'd automatically walked towards the park. Where else would we have gone after all? But I wasn't oblivious. I know that after what happened, some things would have to be expected. Like questions, confrontations, or interrogations or whatnot, but the thing was I wouldn't be of much help. I had no idea what Asami had been talking about.

After I'd woken up from my most recent dream, Botan had been right there to ask me about it right off the bat. I told her I honestly didn't know anything and she had frowned and comforted me. What was going to happen now? Because something _was _going to happen.

In an effort to lighten up the mood, I attempted small talk.

"I hope Koenma had enough sense to leave, " I sighed out loud, "It'd be hard to explain why a man with the word 'Jr.' tattooed to his forehead who always sucks on a pacifier was hiding in the house."

Hiei shrugged, "Koenma's a fool, but even he knows the penalty of having normal humans find out about the Spirit World and such. I'm sure that he was gone even before Kurama and the others left."

"That's a relief I guess," I touched my chest in concern and flashed a side glance in Hiei's direction. He had his eyes trained forward and didn't look like he was about to return any efforts in conversation. I sighed.

He couldn't fool me with that. I figured I might as well get it out there.

"...You don't have to pretend like nothing's wrong and I know you want to know, but Botan already asked me- I really have no idea what Asami was talking about."

"Hn. I didn't even say anything." Hiei said.

"You didn't have to." I frowned. Hiei stopped and looked back at me. His red eyes gazed into mine, searching. I stopped too, focusing on how the red's of his eyes seemed to flicker like an actual fire in the sun.

"I believe you. Only an idiot would try lying to my face like that." Hiei smirked.

I smiled lightly, "Thanks, I think."

"We shouldn't be out long though- we're vulnerable here." Hiei said.

"So should we head back already?" I asked, a little disappointed. We'd just arrived after all, but walking to the park took a good 15 minutes so we'd have been out for at least half an hour which wasn't terrible.

"It might be best. We need to lay low, especially now with Asami out targeting you. It's dangerous to just wander around needlessly- she's already proved that it doesn't matter to her whether there are other humans in the area or not."

I gulped. He had a good point.

"Alright then, we'll just walk through the park and then we can head straight home. That way we can have at least a little change in scenery."

Hiei grimaced at the unnecessary detour, but followed without a complaint.

When we finally passed the fountain, I knew that we were halfway through the park. However, Hiei surprised me when he broke the silence that had come over us again.

"You're hiding something."

I paused, startled, "What would I have to hide?"

Hiei shot me a nasty look, "If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking would I?"

I pressed my mouth into a line and avoided his gaze, but, if anything, that made it all the more obvious.

"They've already come up several times before," Hiei said as I bit my lip, "Every time you wake up, you're always upset. I could tell that you'd just had one when you came out to see your uncle. You even said that you wanted Genkai to help you with them."

I whirled on him in surprise, but he stepped right up to me and locked eyes with me, "I trust that you understand."

I gulped. Since when had Hiei been able to look down at me like that? My mind was wiped clean. Several emotions flashed through me: no fear surprisingly, but intimidation and the pressure of wanting to tell him. I took it back; there _was _fear, but it wasn't fear of him. I just couldn't decide why I was feeling this way. And that scared me.

"They're just dumb dreams-"

"Then why such the effort to keep them secret?"

"Hiei, I-" I began, but my eyes flickered over his shoulder and I stopped short, the words suddenly stuck in my throat. I stepped away to look around him.

"Ryuu?"

Hiei tensed in front of me and became stiff. I ignored him and jolted when I realized that it really was Ryuu. He had paused in his trek and it was strange because he looked as if he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Ryuu!" I ran up to him, "I can't believe it! As soon as you left my house that day, I was worried about you, and then you didn't even come to school the next day. It might have been for the better though." I sighed, "I'm glad you're ok.

He looked startled, "Ren!" There was no doubt about it. Something was wrong. He couldn't stay still and his eyes kept flickering around as if he were nervous. He wouldn't look me in the eye either. My smile disappeared.

"Ryuu, what's wrong? You've been acting weird ever since yesterday when I told you about-" I stopped myself when I felt Hiei's eyes drilling holes into my back. A feeling of guilt made my chest tighten. Ryuu shook his head and tried to laugh.

"Why do you keep asking me that? I'm completely fine- nothing's wrong. Heard about the school though. Crazy, huh?" Ryuu said.

I nodded slowly, "Yeah... crazy." Ryuu's behavior was really starting to scare me. A bad feeling was starting to form in the pit of my stomach.

Ryuu double checked his shoulder and then finally met my eyes. I gasped. He looked serious and almost angry.

"Ren, you should go. It's not safe here. You know... with the terrorist on the loose and stuff." Ryuu closed his eyes and shook his head, a complicated expression that I couldn't read crossing his face. He looked like his could've been in pain. I stepped closer, raising my hands.

"Ryuu you're not making any sense."

Ryuu shook his head harder this time and hissed through his teeth. Then he spun around without looking at me, "I have to go."

"Wait, Ry-" I tried to say, but Ryuu had left. I would have gone after him if not for the firm hand that grasped my shoulder. I looked to Hiei, the worry clear in my eyes, but he only stared straight ahead.

"Let him be."

The trees in the surrounding fluttered nervously like my heart and I relaxed into Hiei's touch, staring mournfully at the spot where Ryuu had just been standing.

"I just don't understand," I trailed off.

"Hn." Hiei removed his hand and started walking again. After a few moments of just standing, I grunted and rejoined him.

"I guess I should thank you Hiei," I tried to say lightly although my mind was still heavy with questions and concern.

He flashed me a side-long glance, "Thank me?"

I fiddled with a strip of hair lying on my shoulder, "For not totally losing it. I know how much you don't like him."

Hiei snorted heartily, "Hn, it doesn't matter. It's not really something you should thank me over anyways. At least one of us should hold a grudge."

I grinned awkwardly at the joke... if that was a joke, "He's not that bad Hiei."

"Hn... I already said it doesn't matter. I could care less about him."

_Right, _I thought skeptically.

"And I have to admit something though. Actually, not really admit, but ask." I said curiously. I took Hiei's lack of response as a go-ahead, "When I was sick, you didn't say anything to him either, and you can't deny that you were really angry at the time too. I felt it."

"Your point?" Hiei grumbled.

"My _point _is this: why didn't you do anything then either? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful you didn't; I mean, I was there at the restaurant. I'm just curious as to what went through your head." It must've sounded strange and I flushed, grimacing, "Er, never mind..." However, I couldn't help, but feel a little disappointed when he didn't end up answering anyways.

Ryuu's behavior had made me nervous and the trip home was a quick one. It'd been pretty dumb to leave in the first place, but nothing had happened so far so we were at least fine for now. Pausing at the stairs, I shot Hiei a sheepish smile, but I guess I didn't have to say anything after all because he was already grumbling and heading for the tree.

"I'm sorry Hiei," I said apologetically as I followed him, "But I'm sure that Mako won't stay for long this time. I say a full day at the most and that's it! I promise." I reassured him, stopping at the gate.

"I'll unlock my window, but you can't come in unless you're sure that my door is closed and Mako is nowhere in sight. I'll bring you some food later too. Is there anything you feel like?" I asked hopefully, wishing that I could do at least something to show him that I didn't particularly enjoy making him stay out.

"No." He said. I sighed and stepped back.

"Ok... I'll be inside." I started to leave-

"... You asked me why I didn't do anything?"

I gazed at Hiei confusedly, but he didn't look at me.

"I figured that you had enough to deal with already." he said, then went silent.

I let his words sink in and then I was nodding, smiling softly. I whispered a small thanks, then slipped up the stairs and into the apartment.

~.~.~.~.~

"You made quite a bit more than necessary Ren..." Mako observed, his chopsticks paused in mid-air.

I shrugged, grinning, "Oh you know... I wanted to make a little extra just in case you were still hungry."

Mako glanced over at all the leftovers with a skeptical glance, "Ah, well that's sweet, but I'm already full."

I made myself look surprised, "Oh, sorry about that Mako. That's fine. I'll just go ahead and start clearing up then." I picked up the nearly full bowls of rice porridge and meat, and trotted off before Mako said anything else.

I went into the kitchen, but instead of setting the bowls in the sink I turned the faucet on, loud enough so that Mako could hear. Checking once more that he wasn't about to get up, I quietly crossed the hall to my room and clicked the door closed behind me. Carrying the bowls over to the window, I searched around for any flicker of movement, but the sun had set and the shadows were too dark.

I set the bowls carefully on my bed so that they wouldn't tip over, jotted down a little note for Hiei, and rapped on the window, unlocking it as I did so. I tried to be quick so that Mako wouldn't get suspicious- if my behavior hadn't given it away already. He knew something was going on, but I was glad that he didn't press me further. I didn't particularly enjoy lying to him in the first place.

I closed the door softly and snuck back into the kitchen so that he could see me walking out of it. I dipped my hands in the water, then twisted the nozzle so it would turn off. Feeling light-hearted and a bit like a crook-in-the-night who'd just managed to cover all her tracks, I chuckled to myself. It felt good to laugh at my corny jokes: I could use some relief from my stress.

I left the kitchen to head back to the dining room, wiping my hands as I did so that Mako could see that'd I been "washing." I hurried into the room.

And then collided full-force against Mako himself.

Mako yelped, fumbling his bowls as best he could but he'd already lost his grip on them. I landed backwards with a grunt of pain on the wooden floors, dazed. I suddenly felt sticky and the smell of salt was all around me.

"What?" I wiped my eyes which had gone a little blurry, but to my disgust clumps of white goop seemed to cling to my hands. I grimaced; that explained the stickiness and the salt.

"Oh Ren! I'm sorry honey, I didn't see you there." Mako fled to deposit his empty bowls in the kitchen and helped me up. Leftover porridge was dripping from my hair. I shuddered at the feel of it.

"Ugh, " I groaned, raking off more of the stuff, but Mako stopped me.

"Stop Ren! You're getting it all over the floors. Here... go take a shower before it dries. I'll clean up here." Mako ushered me into the bathroom, almost holding his nose, and closed the door firmly after I got in. I sneezed and dared sniffing myself. My face puckered.

"I smell terrible..." I whimpered and sighed. The sooner I took a shower the better.

Turning on the water, I stepped towards the mirror as I allowed it to start warming up. I glared at my grimy hair and stripped off my soiled clothes. When I noticed the mirror beginning to fog, I finally stepped in and sighed with content, letting the soothing floods wash all the filth away. It felt absolutely wonderful.

I loved getting clean. It was one of my favorite parts of the day, a time when I could get away from the world and focus in on my own thoughts while being calmed and massaged by the heavenly stream. I squeezed some of my sharp vanilla-scented shampoo into my hair, feeling my sinuses clear away almost immediately. As I worked the shampoo into a foamy lather, I stared at the tiled wall thought I didn't truly see it.

What was going to happen now? Asami had made it clear that I had become her target. She'd even called me her daughter. It was crazy though, insane. The more I thought about it, the more unlikely it sounded. Hiei didn't think so either which made helped my nerves. I began to wonder what the others really thought though, but for now as long as Hiei believed me, it was enough. I wasn't alone in this.

Then my dreams... it was as if the water suddenly lost its warmth. The most recent one had been the most complicated yet and I remembered every moment of it. I was almost positive now: these weren't just dreams, but they were some kind of memories. There was no other explanation. They were too... normal (or as normal as a dream structure could be at least), as if I were watching the movie of someone's past. Kuri's past. Asami's _real _daughter.

Maybe that was it! Maybe Asami somehow knew that I was having these strange glimpses of Kuri's past, but that didn't mean that it made _me_ her daughter. None of it connected- I scratched the idea.

Then another thing that I had questioned for many times already. Why was I dreaming these things in the first place? Was it possible... that Kuri herself was somehow sending me these dreams? It seemed crazy, but I'd already learned that "crazy" things like demons and powers weren't actually all that "crazy" at all. But hadn't Koenma had said he was in charge of the Spirit World right? If someone from the dead was acting up, wouldn't Koenma know about it? Or is that not how it worked?

After I was sure that all of the porridge had been rinsed from my body and hair, I shut the shower off and stepped out, shivering from the sudden goose bumps. As I reached for a towel though, I stepped on a wet tile and slid forward. Gasping in surprise, I clutched at anything I could and managed to hook on the counter before my head smashed against the toilet. Panting, I glared at my reflection in the mirror. That would've been a great story: in the end, a wet puddle ended up surprising everyone by becoming my undoing. Not Asami, not Tatsuya, not _anything_ but a bit of water.

I sighed, wrapping a towel around my body and then stared at my long hair in the mirror. My thoughts were unconsciously drawn back to Kuri and her own long hair, although hers was much longer than mine.

What if, like Asami, Kuri wasn't dead at all? I had just automatically assumed that, after all, with no proof, but something inside me knew that I was right. There really was no explanation except for that feeling. But whether it was Kuri or not, I was somehow receiving this... life story of hers. It came in flashes and was a bit un-chronological, but it was easy to put events in their place. Kuri had been born on the mountain and banned from leaving it, then when her mother decided it was time to invade a village, they had taken over the position of royalty in a castle and were suddenly the Lady and princess. Then Riku appeared... his introduction was no random villager like the other men in my dreams had been. I knew, like how I knew everything else, that Riku had some important role to play in this grand story. I guess I'd just have to wait and see what.

I trailed my fingers lightly across my chest, letting them rest against the skin just below my neck. There'd been something else in the dream, something that I had seen, but which had not been observed out loud. If Riku had wanted to, he'd obviously chosen not to. After all, it wasn't something that was subtle, but the complete opposite.

At the moment Kuri had risen in the dream, I'd seen it. Centered on her bodice, a long, vertical strip of dark-colored skin ran from the tip of her bosom to below her belly-button. An ugly scar to me. A painful memory to her.

I stared at my own chest and then blinked in surprise for a moment. From just above the towel, I had thought I saw a small line of dark skin, but when I opened the towel to look, I only saw my own whiteness. Shaking out the thoughts, I reached for my clothes.

I froze as my fingers clutched air.

_I have no clothes._

Mako had herded me in so quickly, I hadn't been able to grab any extra pair from my room.

_I have no clothes. _

I looked over weakly to the ones I'd been wearing before. I couldn't wear them... there was still plenty of leftover all over them. A bright flush slowly began to turn my entire body red. There was only one option.

_But I have NO clothes._

I took a deep breath to try and stop my heart from pounding. _Relax, _I commanded myself, _relax! It's fine, it's fine... it's no problem if Mako sees you, and it's not like Hiei hasn't seen you like this before- _my eyes bulged at that thought and I smacked my inner-self. That was NOT the way to calm myself down.

...Besides, he'd been quite a bit away that time. Right now, he could actually be in my room.

_If he is, I'll just kick him out. Yes, that's what I'll do. Hiei would've left by now though- he would've finished his food then gone back out. It's not like he'd actually stay in my room afterwards. _I gripped the bathroom knob a little more confidently, but I just couldn't turn it. I released it with a shout and rubbed my hands over my face.

"Ok, I just need to get it over with!" I breathed. Making sure again that my towel wouldn't accidentally fall down, I twisted the knob and peaked out the door, opening it more bit by bit. Mako wasn't in sight and I couldn't hear anything coming from the kitchen. I flinched back when I heard the sound of rustling, but then I realized that Mako must have been either in his room (the door was closed) or the living room reading a book or a newspaper. Luckily, my room wasn't close enough to the living room so that he would see me creep across the hall. I targeted my bedroom, the door closed as it should be. I gritted my teeth at each creak that the bathroom door would make as I opened it wider.

Sliding out quickly, the sounds of my bare feet slapping the wooden floors were deafening to me. I carefully pressed an ear to my door and paused for several seconds. Nothing. Feeling better, I twisted the knob entirely before opening the door. I scoped the bed and noted the missing bowl and the shut window.

My entire body relaxed as it flooded with liberation and the tension that had built in my shoulders instantly vanished. I sighed, incredibly relieved, loosening my grip on the towel and making my way over to the bed, my first mission in being to close the blinds. I let out a small giggle at my fortune as I made my way to the dresser, combing my fingers through my silky hair. Now for those clothes-

"Hm?" My foot had caught on something, startling me. I hadn't turned on the lights yet as I had just wanted to shut the windows first, but I could tell that it was small and maybe fragile from how it sounded when I'd hit it. Curiously, I walked over to flip the lights and looked down at the mysterious object.

... A bowl? But what would a bowl be do...ing... here...

I slowly looked up. No thought crossed my mind. I was just a mechanical machine whose sole function was to raise itself up. Until I met Hiei's fiery red eyes.

It all happened so quickly, I still don't know how it ended how it did.

My mouth was ripped open with an involuntary scream and Hiei was lunging forward to cover my mouth, but it was too late. Then I saw that bowl - that _bowl- _ and there was a clatter and then the air was knocked out of me as I was knocked to the hard floor.

I would've groaned in pain if it weren't for the paralyzing power of Hiei's eyes inches from mine when they snapped open. Raw immense surprise illuminated them, reflecting my own. The heat was suddenly unbearable along with a stream of electric current and Hiei's breath tickled my face. I could smell the pine from his hair and when he shifted, a gust of cool air hit my chest sending pleasant shivers, a relief from the warmth. Then the unimaginable happened.

A pair of lips crashed onto mine.

That's when it clicked. And I mean _really _clicked.

Hiei was on top of me. I was naked. His mouth...

...

His body was completely on _top of mine _which was very_naked_, and his **mouth **was...!

It had all happened in the course of a few seconds, but being pinned underneath him had my heart racing for an eternity.

"Ren! What's wrong?" my door flew open, revealing a very worried Mako.

When he saw us, his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.

To try and say something like "It's not what it looks like!" at this moment, I knew, wouldn't even be worth it.

~.~.~.~.~

I was grounded forever. Or at least, that's how I took it when Mako told me that I was never to leave my room ever again. I had refrained from asking about how I would go to the bathroom, eat, or go to school, knowing that being any type of smart-ass right now definitely wouldn't do me any good. But while I'd probably be able to leave my room,

On the bright side (if there could possibly be one) I was finally in clothes... Yeah, it wasn't much of a bright side.

I gazed miserably out my window and felt like dying. I wondered where Hiei had went. Right after Mako had seized a hold of him like a mad ape and promptly tossed him out like garbage, I'd been subjected to the torture of a harsh scolding for the next hour. Like a conviction without a right to plead innocent, he listed my crimes out while ticking his fingers: for lying directly to his face, being involved in shameful things (of which I'm not sure what he was referring), for letting a boy in through the window, for engaging in something as horrific as he'd just witnessed (he'd proceeded to sob due to his sheer vast of emotional high- he'd always been on the open side anyway), being _naked_ while said horror occurred, and several other wrongs that I didn't remember ever doing.

For the first half-hour I tried tirelessly to have him hear my side of the story, but it was in vain. I couldn't get through a couple of phrases before he seized on something else to add to my offenses. Really though, what was I going to say? The truth? In my dreams. If anything, even the truth, if one thing said wrong, could make the situation much worse.

He went on to tell me how ashamed he was and how he thought that I was a good girl to be proud of that he bragged about to all of his colleagues whenever he could. Apparently it was all a lie now. He sent me to my room without so much as a goodnight and ordered me not to come out for the rest of the night.

Honestly, as angry and frustrated it left me, I felt like I'd seriously let him down even though I know that the entire fiasco had been a misunderstanding, no one to be at fault. I paused on the thought. Actually, if there was fault to be dealt out, it was definitely at Hiei.

Originally, I hadn't hesitated in defending him, but the more I thought about it, the more my blood boiled. Who in their right mind sat in a room with the lights off in the first place? The more times I ran the situation through my head, the more strange and creepy it made Hiei seem.

I shivered and my mind gladly produced its most recent haven of warmth for relief- Hiei's body- I slammed a pillow into my face. What the _hell_ was I thinking?

And then I'd even ki-

I forced myself to stop thinking and stared down into the pillow, suddenly livid, and imagined that it was Hiei for a moment, "I HATE YOU." I told it and flung it across the room. I cast myself across the bed, feeling drained and suddenly overcome with the desire to never to wake up after falling asleep.

What were we going to do now? There's no way Hiei would be let into the house _ever _with Mako around (Mako also mentioned the fact of permanently locking my window)and I had no doubt that he would definitely extend his time to stay for a while. From what he'd told me and what I'd hoped I'd misinterpreted, it sounded like he was going to pull a couple of strings to work locally until I went back to school. My mouth had dropped open like a fish. There was no telling how long that would take.

I gazed out the window again, but with the reflection of the light from my room and the lack of moon in the sky, it looked pitch black outside. I had no idea where Hiei was. There was no telling if he was by the tree which I doubted, or hanging around the neighborhood. The bond hadn't been lit yet, but I hadn't had us test it for a while so there really was no telling how long it was now. For all I knew, it could've stretched far enough so that he could reach the park. I took comfort in the fact that it was seriously unlikely... although the idea refused to disappear from my mind.

Admittedly it made me really nervous not knowing where Hiei was, regardless of how angry I was at him. Of course, I'm not sure if I really _wanted _to see him right now, but I at least wanted to know that he was close by. He was the one who'd told me himself that it was dangerous to be out right now, and that was when we were together. If we'd been vulnerable together, he was even worse off now that he was alone.

I turned off the lights and retreated back to my bed, suddenly in desperate need to close my eyes. I just wish I could get away from it all. Maybe after a few hours of sleep, I'd wake up to find that everything wasn't so bad after all. I frowned at the pitiful glimmer of hope, but clung to it all the same.

I had to focus on one thing at a time. Right now I was going to have a good night's sleep, I told myself. It'd do me good. I closed my eyes.

A popping noise woke me up. My head snapped up and I groggily glanced at the clock on my bedside table. 2:32 am. The last time I'd checked it had been 10. _Guess I fell asleep after all, _I thought in a haze and rolled over to go back to sleep, but I twitched when I heard another popping. It had been louder this time. Confused, I sat up slightly looking for the origin of the noise. That's when I noticed the warm glow being emitted through the cracks in my door. Could Mako still be awake?

No... the light I could see was a different color, more orange than yellow. The popping hadn't faded either and had only continued to get louder and louder eventually growing into a crackling roar. Fully awake now, I slid out of bed and hurried over to the door. The smell of burning was thick in the air.

My eyes widened. _No! It can't be-!_

I yanked the door open and wild flames leapt in my face making me scream. The entire apartment was in flames. I immediately began choking on the thick black smoke that began curling into my room and pulled my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose. It didn't help much. The heat was terrible and my eyes were filling up with water from the smoke. All of the sudden it had become so difficult to breathe.

"Ren!" it was hard to hear the scream amongst the roaring.

I choked on an inhaled cloud before I could reply, "M-Mako! Where are you? Mako!" I shrieked as a window popped.

Suddenly, Mako seemed to burst from the flames and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. His body was soaking with water, "Come on Ren! We need to get out. Hurry before there's no path to get out of!"

I saw what he was talking about on closer inspection. The fire was eating along the walls and most of the furniture but there were a few patches of carpet that remained untouched. For the moment.

He guided me quickly through a few patches. If it'd been hard to breath before, it was impossible now. The fire was everywhere and tendrils from all directions whipped out at my face and hands, singing all the skin it could touch.

There was a loud groan from above and a yell. I looked up just in time to see the ceiling collapsing on us.

I squeezed my eyes shut as it crumbled, but at the last minute I felt Mako's grip release and my body fly forward. I landed in a coughing fit, but noting that I was not buried under ceiling, I whirled around and gasped. A large crackling pile of debris clogged the hallway and underneath it all at the base, Mako was trapped. His body from the waist down disappeared under wreckage and only his upper half remained free, his hands sprawled out and on his belly. His eyes were closed.

In sheer panic, I frantically scrambled back to him and tried pulling on his hands. But it was stupid to think that it'd move; nothing budged except for the sliding of a few planks of wood on the pile. The room was being consumed quickly. There was no time. I screamed helplessly as I yanked on his arms again, but he'd become a dead weight.

I wanted to throw up. _Mako...no it- it just can't be..._

There was a familiar loud groaning and I knew more ceiling was coming down. With a loud cry, I thrust myself over Mako's unmoving body. Then the air was suddenly filled with a white light and the pieces couldn't hit us and just slid around instead. I looked up in time to see the translucent, silver spear vanishing. _What?_

"Ren!" I heard my name be screamed and whirled around just as the front door was kicked open. I coughed violently, immediately making out Hiei through the bright light of the flames.

"Hiei!" I choked and didn't miss a heartbeat when I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms encircled me, pulling me tightly to him as he was avoiding another piece of crumbling roof.

Shocked, I realized that we were heading towards the door and started pounding on his back, reaching for my unconscious uncle.

"No! Hiei, stop! _Please! Mako!" _ But whether he'd heard me or not, he didn't stop. The next thing I knew, we were out in clean air again and I could breathe again. I tried to scream but couldn't as I hacked out the rest of the smoke from my lungs. I was only vaguely aware of Hiei setting me down.

As soon as I had stopped coughing, I looked up at Hiei only to find that he'd disappeared. A group of people were surrounding me, but I shoved them all out of the way and stumbled to my feet.

"_Hiei?_" I whipped around violently, searching for him desperately, the cries of the several people around me falling on deaf ears. Only when I felt two people grab my arms did I suddenly hear them. I struggled as much as I could.

"Stop! You can't go back in there!"

"Yeah! That boy already went back in- it's just dumb to go back in right after he got you out!"

I looked at them in shock, "He went back in?"

As I spoke, there was a loud groan- even louder than the others, and I watched in horror as the flames swallowed everything else, completely blocking the door. Numb, I sank to my knees, my eyes trained on the unbelievable sight.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. The tears were coming.

It was... over? Were they really gone just like that? It couldn't be...

"No..." the strangled cry came out quietly. My throat was hoarse and it was all I could manage. The word came out again and again. It couldn't be!

"Wait I see something!"

"No, look!"

_What?_

My shoulder was being shaken roughly, "Look! Look! Two more people are coming out!"

I peered at the door, holding my breath. My eyes widened. I could see the silhouttes now.

Hiei burst from the flaming door, Mako's arm slung around his shoulders. He quickly made his way down the stairs and stopped right in front of me, easing Mako down onto my lap with a grunt.

"He's alive. He might have taken in too much smoke and his legs might be broken, but he's alive." Hiei told me.

I couldn't say anything. I clutched Mako's ashy face in my hands and slowly looked back at our apartment. A tumble of emotions made my chest pound I didn't know what to feel, but whatever I did, I felt it alot. Happy, relieved, horrified, enraged, depressed-

Instead, I only felt two tears slide down my face.

"Why is this happening?"

The crackling of the flames was my only reply, and together, Hiei and I watched as my old life- for there was no going back now- burned to the ground.

* * *

><p>DUN DUN DUN<p>

***dogeza** [as defined by wiki :3 ]: is an element of Japanese manners by kneeling directly on the ground and bowing to face down oneself as touching one's head to the floor. It is used to show deference to the most highly-revered high-class person, as a deep apology and to express the desire for a favor from said person.

Leave a **review** please? :)

It's that little blue button towards the bottom... just give it a click c:

P.S - Lol! Sorry about the dream sequence this time! Hope it wasn't too confusing ;) INCEPTION o.o Ren was dreaming of Kuri who was also dreaming... of herself *mind blown!* Haha just kidding, I don't think it was that bad.

And, yes, technically Kuri is a cougar, but who gets that technical when it comes to love? :3 _Oh snap. _Did I spoil it? o.O Oh well, my bad. Tee hee! xD But if you're liking this new development, let me know!

Tell me what you think! Who do you want to see get together? What would you like to see happen? What do you expect will happen? I can't say that whatever you provide will be what happens, but I'd like to see what you all are thinking.


	13. Into the Mountains

I'm sorry guys! I think chapter lengths are going to be seriously cut from here on out! School... :'( But senior year on the bright side! *woot!* If I ever miss my update times from now on, please understand that I'll be trying to update as fast as possible but it would have definitely been for a legitimate reason!

Anyways, enjoy! sorry it's super short ._.

Chapter 13 Into the Mountains

The rumble and hiss of the bus pulling away vanished, abandoning us on the side of the road by a lonely bench that looked like it hadn't been sat on in ages. Nobody spoke for a few moments to take a moment and let the natural, clean air refresh us.

I breathed deeply, gazing at the stretch of mountains and never ending roll of green. The air was cool and the sun was busy peeking out from under the clouds making it the perfect temperature for a hike through the woods. A narrow, feeble stretch of discolored dirt- _A path? _I wondered skeptically- stretched down and slithered between and under the canopy of trees until it disappeared. I whistled lightly and I turned to the others with a worried chuckle.

"She doesn't really live out here in the middle of nowhere _by herself _right_?_"

Yusuke readjusted his backpack while shooting me a cocky grin, "Sure does. The old hag's delusional."

Botan rolled her eyes, "Come on, Yusuke. Must you insult Genkai all the time? She deserves much more respect than that."

Kurama said, "Besides, she doesn't live alone. At least not anymore."

"Yukina's with her." Hiei said.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot." I said in surprise. It was strange, but now that I was thinking about it, actually some time had passed since I'd seen her. I smiled, excited that I'd get to see her soon.

Kuwabara startled me when he suddenly charged down the side of the hill and straight into the woods, a manic grin on his face, "What are we waiting for? Yukina's waiting for me! I'm coming my love!"

I couldn't help but laugh lightly even though Hiei's face had gone completely sour and he'd taken to glaring daggers at Kuwabara's back. Even though I realized I might never understand Hiei's animosity towards him whenever Yukina was involved, I figured it must have been something personal so I tried to squish my grin by pressing my lips together into a straight line when he looked at me even though it didn't work so well.

"Is it far?" I asked out loud as we started to make our way down into the thick growth.

"It only takes about an hour if we cut straight through, maybe a little more depending on how fast we go." Kurama smiled, "As long as you know where you're going. Stay close- we wouldn't want you straying and having some stray demon find you instead."

I darted behind Hiei with a squeak, but Hiei just scowled, "Don't mind Kurama. Any demons in this forest would probably leave you be regardless."

"Probably?" I repeated in alarm.

Botan wagged her finger, "There's nothing to worry about dear. All of Genkai's land," Botan stretched out her arms, "was meant for all demons and humans in the chance that they could co-exist one day. Any demon, if any, you'd run into here wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Hn. Regardless, you shouldn't stray." Hiei glanced at me over his shoulder and I nodded feebly, avoiding his gaze.

"M'kay."

As we traveled deeper into the forest, the tree tops grew thicker and denser and only the occasional spot allowed thick sunlight to flow through. I rubbed my arms, the absent of sunlight making the air cool, as we trekked deeper into the forest. Personally, I had lost my sense of direction as soon as the barren road had disappeared from sight. From what I could tell, all of them were confidently moving in the right direction from apparently having done it many times before, but to me, there was no path or marker that they seemed to be following at all.

I was almost tempted to ask if they were sure that this was the right way, but afraid of sounding dumb I remained silent. As if sensing my uneasiness, Hiei looked around at me.

"Relax." he commanded, and I looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry."

"Hn." We walked on in silence. I stared at Hiei's back glumly, feeling a warm blush tint my cheeks.

There was a good reason why I'd never gone hiking before. It was obviously not meant for me. As the brush grew thicker, the others seemed to find clear spots to slide through easily while I was left scrambling in the back like an awkward duck, small twigs and branches hooking and ripping into my clothes and skin. I stumbled over thick roots that were hidden in leaves and wrestled with vines that wrapped around my face. I had my share of more than a couple of flexible branches flung into my face- I'm sure I looked like I'd just been attacked by a rabid raccoon or something.

I felt like we'd been walking through this forest for an eternity while it must've been about twenty minutes. Although he didn't say anything, I kept seeing Kurama look at the sun with a frown every time I'd become snagged and every time, the sun would have shifted down a bit more than before. With how much I was keeping up the group with my struggling, we wouldn't be getting there for a while.

"Enough of this!" Hiei barked after I'd fallen onto my face for the third time from having missed another root that was sticking out of the ground. I swiped some stray leaves off of my face as I looked up in bewilderment to see Hiei ominously looming over me.

Feeling as though I should be getting used to it by now, I still couldn't help but be completely taken by surprise when I was free-falling in the air for a split second and then flung onto Hiei's back like a sack of potatoes. Botan's face had gone slightly pink and she was wearing that mischievous grin on her face again, Kurama simply arched a perfect eyebrow, and from what I could make out, Kuwabara was grumbling while handing a cackling Yusuke... money?

Botan was beaming, "Good idea Hiei! It probably wasn't a good idea to have Ren walk such a long distance with her ankle anyways."

I squirmed, blushing madly and trying to get out of his grip, "It's perfectly fine! Put me down, Hiei!"

One look from Hiei made me zip my lips. Botan giggled and winked at me while I just glared back at her through slit eyes. What was she always trying to pull?

Yusuke grinned knowingly and clapped Kuwabara sympathetically on the back, "Easiest five bucks I've ever made." My blush grew hotter. They were _betting?_ But the better question was, _on what?_

"Shut up Urameshi!"

"Well then, shall we continue?" Kurama chuckled and started walking again.

I grumbled in defeat, refusing to meet Hiei's eye. I had to admit though, we seemed to be moving a lot faster. After a while though, my body began to ache from the uncomfortable position of having my chest dig in to Hiei's shoulder blade.

"Erm, Hiei?" I began in embarrassment, "You don't have to put me down, but would you mind if I got on your back instead? I mean, you can just put me down if I'm heavy." I quickly justified, realizing how stupid I sounded, but Hiei merely obliged and shifted me down so that I was riding his back instead. Hiei's arms locked my legs to his side and my hands clutched his shoulders so I wouldn't fall back.

"Thank you." I mumbled, red in the face.

"Hn."

I was tense at first, but gradually found myself relaxing into Hiei. I nervously rested my head against the base of his neck too- he still didn't protest, only readjusted me.

Ever since the night of the fire, our conversations (if you could even call them that) had been short and to the point as required. It almost felt awkward, but I don't think that was it. My cheeks burned slightly. Only after the excitement of the night had reached its peak and things had begun to settle down did I have time to let things process.

_That night_... it'd only been a full day since then, but it almost felt like it'd been an eternity.

~.~.~.~.~

One moment I'd been watching my house turn to ashes, the next I was waking up in a hospital bed. I'd breathed in too much smoke, but other than an annoying cough that might bother me for a couple of hours I was alright.

Koenma and Hiei were there with me. The other boys were posted outside the hospital to watch for anything else. It'd been made clear that Asami knew where Hiei and I were, that much was sure, and the last thing we wanted was for her to suddenly burn down a hospital because that's what I knew had happened to my own home.

But even though I was ok, Mako was a different story.

Koenma gave it to me bluntly. His legs were crushed, he'd sustained a bad head concussion when he fell, and he'd sucked in much more smoke than I did. Koenma had told me with a straight face that there wasn't a good chance that he'd survive the night.

Right before I was about to fall into shock though, he told me that although he typically wasn't allowed to meddle with human affairs, he felt partly responsible and I watched him proceed to rest his hands over Mako's chest. A blue light had spilled from Koenma's fingers and dissolved over Mako's entire body.

Before he'd been touched, Mako had been barely breathing, but his face had regained a bit of color and he was breathing more regularly. It looked like he was just sleeping.

"While I can't guarantee a quick recovery, I have relieved most of his pain and helped with the healing. But I should also have you know that I took the liberty to placing him under a coma." Koenma said.

"Why a coma?" I'd asked through tear-filled eyes.

"The less he knows, the better and safer off he'll be. Plus, if he stays asleep, his body will heal even quicker."

"When will he wake up?"

Koenma had turned away, "There's no real way of saying."

I looked over Mako's sleeping face and swiped the tears away roughly, "… As long as he's safe." I took a deep breath. "What happens now?"

Koenma closed his eyes, "I'm assuming you understand the gravity of the situation then."

Unfortunately, I did. I studied Mako's peaceful face carefully, trying to soak in as much of it as possible because I didn't know when I'd be able to see it again.

"It's nearing dawn. By the time the sun fully rises, we should be on our way. You, Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan will be going to see Genkai. I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice this time."

I nodded, "Ok. How long will we be there?"

"I'm not sure." Koenma answered honestly.

After a pregnant pause, I tried to force a laugh, "Well, I guess I don't have to worry about packing at least."

They didn't respond. I'm glad they didn't. I could feel Hiei's hardened eyes staring straight at me, but he had yet to speak. Koenma turned to leave.

"The others are waiting for you downstairs. "

"Will you meet us there?" I asked.

Koenma hesitated and then when he looked at me I was startled by the look in his eyes. Uncertainty, apprehension, and… fear?

"No, I'm afraid I have to take care of some business elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" I repeated softly, but he'd already vanished. The rhythmic beeping of Mako's heart machine punctured the silence.

I wasn't surprised when I suddenly felt Hiei right behind me. In a way, I'd been expecting him to. My tears were pushing past the barriers now. After all, it was only Hiei and I- no one else would see.

So I whirled around and thrust myself against him and just cried. I cried and cried until the sun started to rise, and all the while Hiei only held me. He didn't move or say anything, but just held me until my sobs had dwindled into hiccups.

"Sorry," I mumbled pitifully wiping my nose and eyes across my sleeve. When I looked up, Hiei refused to meet my eyes. He looked uncomfortable and I knew that was my fault. So much had happened in the past few hours, we really hadn't the chance to talk about any of it ever since…

I burned bright red and sprinted by Mako's side, my heart racing, "Um Hiei, you can go ahead. I'll be right behind you."

After an unsure moment, Hiei nodded, "Right. Don't keep us waiting."

Thankfully, he left right after that and I took the small time I had left to grasp Mako's unresponsive hand and rested it against my forehead.

"I'm glad you're safe Mako. I'm sorry about leaving you like this- there's no telling how long I'll actually be gone. Just be here when I get back, okay?" Knowing that he probably couldn't hear me anyways, I smiled sadly at him, my warm cheeks burning. "Ugh… I wish you didn't have a problem with Hiei because I could sure use the help right now." I laughed at myself. After giving his hand a final squeeze, I left him there without turning back.

After I had reunited with the group and brief fretting from Botan, we were on the next train to the country.

~.~.~.~.~

"Are you alright?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Hiei's question, "Huh?"

"…Nothing."

I frowned, "Ok."

I looked ahead and noticed with surprise that Hiei and I were lagging behind. I shook his shoulder to catch his attention and pointed at the distant backs of the group.

"You've been carrying me for a while Hiei, and I know I must be heavy. Are you tired? We might be left behind."

"Hn, I'm fine." Hiei smirked, "Besides, I know where we're going."

"If you say so," I replied nervously, "Hey, Hiei."

Hiei tilted his head in my direction and my head sunk down to hide the red. I tried to hide my nervousness with a small laugh, "Well, I wanted to talk to you."

"You're talking right now."

I grimaced, "Yes, but it's about," I forced the lump that had appeared in my throat down, "yesterday."

I felt Hiei tense underneath he and me coughed, "Yesterday wasn't-"

"I just wanted to let you know that I was sorry about Mako throwing you out." Steam must have been coming out of my ears because I wasn't about to address the elephant in the room. To my surprise, Hiei didn't just leave it at that though.

"Is that it?" Hiei said.

I sputtered, "O-of course that's it! What else did you expect me to say?" I knew perfectly well what he expected me to say, but I was _not_ going there. If I even dared think about what happened, my head might just explode from a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"Oh! What happened yesterday?" Botan chirped happily.

I almost fell of Hiei's back. Botan had seemed to come from nowhere and was trotting beside us merrily.

"Botan!" I cried out, my cheeks red.

"Oh come on, it's not good to tell secrets in front of other people." She cooed sneakily, but I just burned brighter. "Sharing is caring!"

Hiei growled darkly, but Botan only laughed and ran ahead to rejoin the others, making sure to wink at me first. I knocked my forehead against Hiei's back. I wanted to go die in a hole.

"Ugh, I have a headache."

"Hn."

Blinking, I lifted my head, but Hiei's face was hidden from me, but my eyes widened when I noticed the tips of his ears had become pink. I guess that was the end of discussion then. The only comfort that I took from any of it though was that it obviously didn't mean just _nothing_ like it usually seemed to with Hiei. He was actually flustered.

The memory was still hot on my mind as much as I tried to swat it away. Getting ourselves into such a compromising position... how did it even happen again? I couldn't even remember. All I did was Hiei's body against mine, and his lips pressed against my own.

My head was going to explode. Maybe I was working myself up too much about this though- over-thinking things like I normally did. It wasn't like a real _kiss_ or anything, no of course not, it was an accident, just gravity being gravity. Somewhere in the back of my mind a small voice was saying, _Ok then, how many times can you have 'non-kisses' before they become real ones?_

I hated that small voice. I sighed. Then I sighed again because I'd been sighing so much lately. I squeezed my eyes to try and alleviate some of the pain in my head.

"Ren,"

"Hm?" I barely mumbled.

"You should get some rest. We still have half an hour till we get there."

"What, we still have that long?" I picked my head up and looked at Hiei uncertainly, "Are you sure? You know I can just walk now."

Hiei smirked, "If I did, it would take twice as long to get there. Besides, I can feel how tired you are. It'd be best if you slept at least a little."

Now that he said it, I was exhausted. I hadn't realized it before, but I hadn't any proper sleep for two days, and Hiei's back _was_ becoming more comfortable as time went on.

"Fine," I murmured, "Just wake me up when we get close or something."

"Hn."

"Or wake me up when you don't want to hold me anymore."

Hiei shot me an incredulous glance. I glared back half-heartedly, and he turned away with a glare, "Whatever."

With a frown, I resettled myself into as comfortable a position as I could manage, and I closed my eyes, welcoming the obscurity of sleep that began to settle over me, beckoning me into deep slumber. However, as I felt my consciousness being gently enshrouded in darkness, it was as if something fuzzy and vague brushed against it, but I was too tired to startle. I drifted into unconsciousness and into the forgotten, but familiar past.

~.~.~.~.~

Kuri was sitting on a porch that overlooked a large garden. It was filled with all kinds of flowers, neatly designed and a path swiveled throughout it, leading to an arched wooden bridge placed directly in the center. Cherry blossom trees were bursting with their ripe blooms giving the entire scene a magical feel. Kuri was twirling a branch in between her white fingers, her black hair spilling down her shoulders.

She was wrapped in layers of a pink and yellow kimono and she looked like she was just enjoying the scenery, waving a paper fan in her face lazily.

I sat beside her (I was used to the fact that I couldn't be seen at this point) and just marveled at the beauty of it all, absentmindedly wishing I could live in a place like this. A sliding door behind us made us turn.

Riku looked around, then spotting Kuri, a relieved smile crossed his face. He looked a lot different now, I observed with surprise. He was dressed in a rich blue kimono and he looked much more neater. When he came out, Kuri immediately whirled back around and pressed her face up to her fan. Startled, I stared at her and noticed the bright red that had illuminated her face.

Riku sighed and kneeled down behind her, "Don't tell me you're still angry with me."

Kuri squeaked, turning brighter and mumbled something under her breath, refusing to acknowledge him. To my surprise, Riku rolled his eyes and started poking the back of her head. The longer she ignored him, the faster and harder he poked her.

Soon enough, Kuri snapped the fan closed and whirled on him, her face red, but mostly from annoyance and yelled, "This is no way to treat a princess!"

Riku grinned, "You're right, and I shouldn't have to do this. But I wouldn't have to treat you this way if you only acknowledged me the first time."

Kuri flushed and pursed her lips. Riku stared at her for another moment.

"You really _are _mad."

"No, I'm not. Why would I be mad about something like that? It's not like it's any of my business what you do with yourself." Kuri replied casually, avoiding his eyes. I arched an eyebrow. I had no idea what was happening, but if I was to take a guess, this memory must have taken place a while after Riku had come under her servitude. Otherwise, she wouldn't be acting this casual with him. It was also obvious that he'd done something to upset her. I listened closely, very curious.

Riku stood back up, "Ok, whatever you say princess." I flinched at the sarcastic remark he'd placed on the last word, " I was going to explain, but since it obviously means nothing and you're not mad, I guess I don't have to." His expression was blank, but something flickered in his eyes. Disappointment maybe? Hurt? He started to leave.

Kuri was obviously surprised he'd given up so suddenly. Was he really just going to walk away? She opened her mouth as if to try and stop him, but he paused by the door and glanced back at her, making her go stiff again.

"Oh right, the reason I came here in the first place," he said and I was alarmed by how flat his voice had gone, "Lady Asami was asking for you."

Kuri frowned, "My mother? Oh wait- Riku!" she tried calling to him, lifting a hand, but he'd already closed the sliding door. She gazed sadly at the spot he'd just been standing at, and returned to gazing at the garden, her face a mix of sadness and pouting.

I was seriously confused. Wondering if maybe I could follow Riku and find out what was wrong, I stood up, but I paused as I was overcome with a familiar, but foreign presence. It was a strange feeling, but familiar nonetheless, and I knew why. _How can that be?_

Unbelieving, I turned around to face the foreign presence and gasped. Hiei was standing a few feet away from me with slightly wide eyes.

"Hiei?" I said out loud, my mind racing. Why was Hiei in my dream? But I thought I had figured out these were memories... unless Hiei had been here as well! He hadn't answered me yet. Maybe he really was just part of the dream!

But as soon as I took a step towards him, he started in surprise and then disappeared. _What on Earth...?_ Then it hit me. He'd been looking straight at me, even reacted when I called his name though he didn't say anything. He'd seen me!

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei?" I shot upwards, reaching out a hand. But Hiei wasn't there. No one was. I looked around in alarm. For a second, I thought I was dreaming and I was back in Kuri's body because I was in a fairly similar room that she'd been in when she woke up by Riku, but when I lifted my hands, I was relieved to find that they were mine. On closer inspection, I noticed the modern decor of the room like the small, old fashioned television in the corner and the electric lighting.

"Where am I?" I murmured lightly and almost had a heart attack when I was actually answered.

"It's about time you woke up. You sleep like the dead." A raspy, but firm voice said behind me. I turned around to come face to face with an old lady. She was tiny, at least half my size, and was withered and wrinkled from a long life, but something about the way that she just held herself gave me the strong impression that she was not to be treated lightly. Like, when I normally thought of the elderly, I imagined kindly women who spent their days baking cookies. Just with one glimpse, it just seemed absolutely ridiculous to imagine her _ever_ doing something like baking cookies.

"You're Genkai?" I said in surprise.

She smirked and grinned cockily, "Yes, and you look like a fish with your mouth open. Any more questions?"

* * *

><p>Okay, now this is the time that I beg for reviews! Tee hee!<p>

Please leave a review :)

Ok, I admit. This chapter was a very filler, but what I was aiming for in this one was kind of a shift. Although I didn't say anything, the last chapter was kind of like an end to 'Part 1' and this one is the introduction to 'Part 2.' Does that make sense? I hope so :)

P.s- I totally didn't know how to end it. Lame ending is very lame ._. I'm sorry, I know it's dull as heck

And are there any Adventure Time fans in my pool of readers? Ever since I watched the most recent episode, I've been so excited! :D

**TallyYoungblood: **I wish I could have a Hiei for myself...

**DemonMiko Jenna: **LOL~! I love puns XD So much c: But, you're just going to have to stick around and find out ;D

**Kagome141414: **HAHA! That made me lol :) Thanks for the review!

**Guest: **No, he didn't :) In my head, I just pictured that he'd been awake (for some reason or other) and taking a shower, then after he got out and got dressed, he smelled the smoke. Or something like that xD Sorry c: I guess I'm bad at thinking of too many details...

**Heve-chan: **xD Haha! I'm so happy you're enjoying it! Hope you enjoy this one c:

**dragoscilvio: ** Thanks for the review! Hm... I'll consider that :D But Hiei IS a complicated guy... who knows what could be going through his head o.o

**FireStorm1991: **Asami IS a meanie -_- Yeah, Mako was almost a goner :0 poor Ren would've been left all alone! But thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy this one!

**Tay: ** Haha! Well, you're not as wrong as you think... ;D Hope you like this chapter! Thanks for always reviewing! :3

**middlekertz: **I know o.o

**BeyondWindows: ** yeah, but it was necessary for story progression! thanks for the review :)

**RedInk: **Hiei is amazing x3

**nekoneko: **That's what I was going for! *brofist*

**plooperc: **Yeah, I'm getting that vibe! xD

**insertrandomname: **cool name! Haha :) thank you!

**nonameprincess: **Thank you! :)


	14. Buried Within

I'm sorry this is so late! I figure I'll only be able to write on the weekends now… -_-

Ok guys! I'm going to be needing your support more than ever now! With school finally here, it's definitely going to be tough updating o.o So, please, stick with me and give me your support! I'll be needing it! :)

Shout out to **Tay **for being my 100th reviewer! (check my response at the bottom!) :'D Thank you soooooo much, to everyone, for reviewing any bit of this story...

Can you believe that we're about half-way done? O.O I sure as heck can't! xD Oh you didn't know that? :3 Well, just so you know: we're half way there guys! :D

Chapter 14 Buried Within

Genkai led me out to a porch that overlooked a wide open area. A ways ahead I could see the arched frame of the entrance to the temple and what looked to be the beginning of the descent of stone steps. A series of giggles caught my attention and curiously, we walked around the corner. I gasped.

"Yukina!" I cried happily.

Yukina, Kuwabara, and Botan were sitting on the edge of the porch and were laughing about something. Kuwabara was blushing, Botan looked impish as usual, and Yukina was oblivious. Upon hearing her name, Yukina paused, startled, but was quickly on her feet when she saw me.

"Ren! You're awake." Yukina beamed at me and I smiled back. It was so good to see her! Botan laughed.

"It's about time. We were just wondering if we should wake you up ourselves. You wouldn't have been able to fall asleep tonight otherwise."

I doubted that. I still felt pretty tired, "How long did I sleep?" I asked.

"You were out for a couple of hours." Botan said.

"Yes, it was quite a while. The sun's just about to set too." Yukina gestured at the sun which I saw was well on its way to sinking behind the horizon.

"You should've seen the shrimp though! It took us about another 20 minutes to get here after you fell asleep, and then once we had to climb up Genkai's steps, I even felt sorry for the poor guy. He looked like he was about to die!" Kuwabara guffawed. I flushed to the roots of my hair.

"What? Why didn't any of you wake me? I could've walked myself!" I said in alarm, trying to imagine the situation.

"We wanted to, but Hiei wouldn't let us even though we could clearly tell that he needed help. I'm just glad he didn't drop you. Now _that_ would've been terrible!" Botan added on cheerfully. I immediately felt guilty. Had Hiei really struggled to carry me the rest of the way so much?

"Yes, poor Hiei looked like he was about to collapse, but he refused help until he'd put you down." Yukina said thoughtfully, remembering earlier that afternoon.

"Where- where is he now?" I asked uncertainly. I could feel that he was close by through the bond, but I didn't know where. An image of Hiei standing across from me, wide-eyed, in the traditional garden flashed behind my eyes.

Botan shrugged and waved her hand as if waving the subject away, "He and Kurama went somewhere right after we arrived. I'm sure they're close by. Anyways, I see you've met Genkai already."

"Ah! Yes," I cried out and scrambled around to face the small woman whom I'd already forgotten in my brief moment of embarrassment. I bowed respectfully, flushing once more. "I'm really sorry. I haven't introduced myself properly. My name is Ren Hashi."

Genkai snorted cockily, "Don't worry. Koenma's told me all I need to know about you. It's about time you've come here- frankly, you should've come the first time around."

"Yes," I mumbled awkwardly, "I realize that now."

She smirked, "It can't be helped now anyways." She put her arms behind her back, " I hope you weren't expecting some welcome speech or some other sort of crap."

I blinked, stupefied and at a loss of words, "Um... no, I wasn't." I said quickly.

"Hey grandma, haven't you ever heard of first impressions? You don't want her thinking you're just some old conniving bitch." Yusuke cackled, emerging from an open room I hadn't noticed. I stared at him in shock. How could he just say something like that?

Genkai growled, "Watch it dimwit or I might just have to kick your ass."

My eyes were about to pop-out and I looked at the other three with horror, but they were all just smiling like they knew about some joke that I didn't.

"Don't worry, this is normal." Yukina smiled.

"Yes... you'll get used to it." chuckled Botan, patting me comfortingly.

"Ah, well now that you're up Ren," chuckled Yusuke, "It wouldn't hurt to meet the rest of the family."

"The rest of the family...?" I repeated questioningly.

Yusuke grinned and stroked something from behind the door, "Come on out, Puu."

"Puu...?" I sucked in a breath. A fuzzy blue head had just poked its head out the door. A _large_ fuzzy blue head. It had a long yellow beak and an even longer neck, as when it stuck out its head it just kept coming closer and closer while all the while looking like it wasn't moving. It had black eyes and what looked like a black mane of hair although it was clearly some type of bird. I fell on my butt as I looked upon the blue beast, frozen, as its head was only a few feet away. We locked into a staring contest.

I didn't move a muscle as the beast's head swiveled around me, examining and sniffing once in a while, then as if satisfied he slowly retracted to twist around Yusuke. It let out a soft coo and Yusuke ran a hand through its mane, making it caw in delight. Yusuke grinned.

"Guess he likes you." Yusuke laughed although I hadn't moved from my spot, still slightly stunned, "Oh, come on, there's nothing to be scared off. The little guy's harmless!"

"The little guy?" I choked on the words, "There's nothing _little_ about it! What is it?" I asked in half-fear and half-amazement.

"Puu is Yusuke's spirit beast," Botan said, "You should have seen him when he was still little though. He was absolutely the most adorable thing ever."

"What's a spirit beast?" I asked curiously.

"That's kind of a long story," Botan giggled.

"Long story short, the dimwit here got hit by a car and bit the dirt for a couple of days. However, Koenma gave him an ordeal to live again with the spirit beast." said Genkai with a smirk, "Basically, he's Yusuke's inner self."

I blinked, slowly picking myself back up, "Whoa... Yusuke's inner self," I stared at Puu for a few moments, thinking. The more I looked at him, the more soft his feathers appeared and the less bizarre he seemed. Even in his eyes, there was a certain gentleness that was reflected. "... is pretty cute and fluffy."

The group erupted into laughter and I spared a small smile. Kuwabara guffawed and went to stand next to Yusuke who was gritting his teeth.

"You should have been there! When Puu first hatched, he was even more cute and fluffy. Just like Urameshi," Kuwabara pinched Yusuke's cheek much to his agitation. With one good swing, Yusuke had managed to get his arm around his neck.

"Shut up! I'm not _cute_ and _fluffy!_ Besides, he's not exactly the same fur ball from back then anymore."

Puu cawed, almost purred, in affirmative, softly flapping his wings. A wind was blown into my face from just that.

"Oh don't be embarrassed Urameshi," poked Kuwabara who had escaped his hold.

"Says the guy who loves kittens! Who's cute and fluffy now?"

"Now now boys," Botan smiled, trying to mediate. Genkai was chuckling, but she paused and turned away from the scuffle.

"Ah, there they are. I was wondering where they'd run off to."

Curious, I turned to see what she was looking at, "Huh? Who?"

But the question answered itself. With a quiet gasp, I recognized the small figures of Hiei and Kurama in the distance… fighting?

I was transfixed. Hiei was running away from Kurama who was wielding his green whip. Kurama lashed and Hiei barely managed to roll away. He flipped to his feet and charged to the side, but he was too slow. He crashed to the ground, rolled, and then lay still. He didn't get up.

"What's going on?" I cried out in alarm, "We need to stop them! Hiei is no match for Kurama right now!" I was about to shoot off, but flinched when I felt the hard grip of Genkai's hand holding my arm.

"Relax, girl. Hiei himself wanted this. I spent a good couple of hours working with him, and after a while Kurama took over. These old bones aren't much of what they used to be."

"They're not fighting? They're training?" I was utterly confused and was still burning with the desire to go check to see if Hiei was ok, but I didn't need to because when I looked again, he'd immediately forced himself back on his feet and recharged Kurama, "But why?"

Genkai sniggered, her hands behind her back, "Do you really need to ask?"

I didn't. It was difficult ignoring the desire to stop them, but now I could tell that Kurama was really holding back and he didn't seem to be on a strong offensive. On even closer inspection, the whip he was holding didn't even have its typical spikes- it was just a regular vine.

"I don't understand…" I murmured, shaking my head.

"A girl like you wouldn't." Genkai said pragmatically.

I stared down at her, my eye twitching. Maybe I'd just imagined it, but her tone seemed to be hinting at something. _What was that supposed to mean? _ I thought with a grimace.

"Oh, it's getting late. By the time the sun sets, I bet everyone will be very hungry. I'll go make dinner." Yukina announced and looked at me with a smile, "Ren, would you come with me? I could use the help and I could show you some of the temple on the way."

"Ooh I can help Yukina, baby!" Kuwabara waved his arm wildly as he offered himself as a volunteer.

"But Kazuma the last time you helped me with dinner, your shirt caught on fire…"

Kuwabara stopped and twiddled his thumbs, muttering "I liked that shirt too."

With one last glance towards the fighting pair, (Hiei was on the ground again, Kurama leaning over him) I shot Yukina a small smile, "Yeah, of course, that sounds great. I'd love to help."

I followed her inside, the sounds of everyone else fading behind me.

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei slid roughly against the ground, burning his side with the impact. Clenching his teeth, he struggled to raise himself up again while ignoring the ache that had taken a hold of his whole body from the rigorous activity.

The soft padding of shoes on grass followed by a deep sigh approached him. Kurama kneeled down to meet his eye.

"Should we call it a day Hiei? You've been going at it for quite a while now." He said with slight concern.

Hiei panted tiredly, wiping his brow with a swipe of his arm. Suddenly, a small commotion caught both of their attentions and they turned to see Yusuke yelling at Kuwabara. Nothing out of the normal, but what made Hiei start was the familiar figure turning away and going back inside the temple.

_Ren_… Hiei thought.

With a determined grimace and renewed vigor, Hiei glanced back at Kurama.

"Again," he grunted.

~.~.~.~.~

My eyes constantly flickered towards Hiei and away in fear that I'd be caught. While the table was surrounded with everyone laughing and eating, I sat quietly to myself, feeling uncomfortable and out of place. I couldn't shake my nerves away and nothing was changing the fact that I still had never been in this place before, so I couldn't help but fade in the background, and the fact that Hiei hadn't said a word to me, let alone make eye contact, since he'd come back in with Kurama was driving me up the wall.

I was aching to ask him about my dream, but at the same time I didn't want to. I had so many questions, but I wasn't sure what kind of answers I could expect to receive in return. When I'd been dreaming, was he a part of the dream? No, he'd seen me. At least, I thought he saw me. Did that mean that he'd been there too? But how could that have happened?

A twinge at the back of my mind made the hairs in the back of my neck prickle. _Could it be…_ It suddenly came back to me. It was fuzzy, but I vaguely remembered the feeling of something else in my mind when I'd been falling asleep, something familiar... my eyes widened. Was that it? Had Hiei somehow found a way directly into my dreams?

I flashed another nervous glance his way and almost gasped out loud in surprise when his suddenly flickered on mine in return. Cheeks burning, I whipped my head down to examine a speck of dirt in my pants. There was a soft scuffling beside me, but I only jumped when I heard my name being called.

"Ren."

"Yes?" I squeaked, my heart pounding from being nervous and I scrambled in a fluster to look at Genkai who was standing and peering down at me with a cold and calculating look. Noticing the hardness in her eyes, I became worried all over again, but for a different reason. _Genkai…?_

She turned her back towards the group. Yukina cocked her head, confused.

"Genkai? Is something wrong?" Yukina asked, letting the rest of them become aware that something was happening.

Genkai smiled kindly at the small ice demon, and shook her head, "No, everything's alright, but Ren," I stiffened, "Follow me."

Baffled and laced with unease, I peered at the group because I didn't know what was happening, but their faces only reflected my own. Apparently, none of them seemed to understand what was going on either. Even Hiei's eyes were slightly wide and were staring at us. The only one who seemed unaffected by Genkai's unclear actions was Kurama who continued to calmly sip at his tea.

Uncertainly, I got to my feet.

"O-okay," I stammered with a small quiver in my voice. Whatever Genkai was doing, it couldn't be good. She was acting strangely. Of course, it was true that I didn't actually know her and only had the other's accounts to draw off from, but I figured she must have been up to something. I just had no idea what.

Genkai led the way down a hall and finally into a large room. A large statue decorated the far end of the room and it was dimly lit with faint candle light. Confused, I looked around the empty space as Genkai slid the door closed behind us. It was all very ominous.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly as Genkai strode past me and then faced me, turning her back towards the statue and enshrouding her face in flickering shadow. She closed her eyes in thought.

"From the moment you stepped foot on my temple, I knew there was something off about you. I sensed something, but it's been blocked off and deeply buried, almost undetectable. But still there." She opened her eyes and looked me straight in the eye and I suddenly felt locked in place as if she had placed some kind of spell on me. My throat had gone dry, but I managed to force words out.

"What do you mean?"

"Ren, you must have realized by now that you are no ordinary human girl; that I am certain of. It is no coincidence that you have become involved with this ordeal."

"Not…ordinary?" I repeated slowly, trying to digest the statement. _What could she possibly _mean? I clenched my fists to my chest, "You must be mistaken. I have no idea what you are talking about!"

Genkai frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Shouldn't you be past the denial stage already? Get a grip and just accept that there are some things about yourself that you haven't been aware of. I feel it myself- come here."

I actually considered turning around and making a run for it, but another part of me just figured that would be a ridiculous move. Wordlessly, I trembled as I made my way in front of her.

"On your knees," Genkai ordered firmly and I complied, unable to move my gaze away from a rising sense of fear. She began to raise both of her hands.

An instinctive squeak escaped my mouth and I instantly tensed as Genkai's hands hovered closer. I scooted back with a cry, "No!"

Genkai growled, "Honestly girl! You need to calm down- I'm not trying to harm you. There is a power deep inside your being that has been locked away for a long time, but somehow that power has been placed under a strong seal and no ordinary spell will be able to release it. What I'm about to do will require your full cooperation. Any resistance could result in one of us being seriously harmed!"

I shook like a leaf, "This is crazy! I don't have any power. I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time- that was what got me involved with this stupid mess!"

Genkai bared her knuckles and I was seriously afraid she was going to hit me, "Cut the crap! Whether you choose to believe a dumb-ass reason like that, you need to wake up!"

Her words echoed inside of me and I clenched my chest. It was hurting. My eyes burned, "I… I'm scared."

Genkai's demeanor shifted. Suddenly, the hardness of her figure loosened and my shoulder were wrapped in a soft, comforting embrace. When I looked into Genkai's face, the iciness of her eyes had melted to be replaced with a kind, almost pitying stare.

"I know; I understand. However, I must see to it that I release this seal on your soul. There is no reason to be afraid. Now, if you will," Genkai said and I blinked away the mist.

"I'm asking you to trust me," Genkai said softly and I weakly nodded, taking a shuddery breath.

"…Okay."

I forced myself to remain stone still as Genkai's hands were raised again. With her fingers, she gently pressed the thumb of one hand to the center of my forehead and the thumb of her other applied a small amount of pressure over my heart.

"Now, concentrate- let your mind go blank. Search deep inside yourself," Genkai ordered gently and the sudden warmth and comfort from her voice actually helped. With effort, I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate as she said. I didn't know what I was concentrating on though, and I felt the fear begin to creep back.

"Don't lose focus Ren. Relax, and look." Genkai pressed the fraction of a bit harder and I pulled my fear down. I just had to relax… Yes, I could do that. Just relax.

My heart beat slowed down. Slower and calmer. Each beat was like the pulsating pound of a drum. It was loud and overwhelming and Genkai and the flickering candles gradually faded out as the beat drowned everything else out.

It felt like I was engulfed in darkness, it was both deafening and piercingly silent, and I was sinking but not moving at the same time. A slight tingle danced at the tips of my fingers, and then it was climbing through my arms, down my legs, around my whole body. It felt warm and electrifying and powerful.

My own thoughts had become fuzzy, fading from focus in the warmth.

Suddenly, I was sinking faster as if I'd been sucked into quicksand. The darkness had become blacker and I was suffocating. I was burning with heat; the electrifying feeling had increased and only continued to grow more and more unbearable the faster I descended.

Thicker and thicker; I was suffocating. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and couldn't move. Raw panic began to flow fast and furious like the electricity coursing through my veins. I was burning from the inside out.

It was too much; too much! I was going to be engulfed! But something kept sucking me down, down and down until I couldn't bare it any longer. I was too deep. Falling further, I could feel the very fabric of my being unraveling and being stripped away. I couldn't come back up.

But just as I was about to lose myself completely, a tiny blue light glimmered, like a tiny blue spark. Suddenly, the darkness didn't seem so black and I felt myself, stripped down to my raw being.

The blue light was terrible and beautiful. I instinctively began to reach out. It was so familiar, I knew that light, but I didn't know it at the same time.

I was within inches of it, fractions away. I cupped my hands and lifted them to capture the small ball of light. Gently, I trapped it between my hands. It fluttered like a small bird against my palms.

And then blue light was spilling from my fingers, bursting out like blue flame. It was so intense, I was blind and overcome. I was suddenly engulfed in the blue light, the fire back in my veins, and a terrible, white pain rippled throughout my body so fast that I couldn't even scream.

The light snapped back to a tiny speck and then exploded with a deafening shatter.

~.~.~.~.~

Genkai ignored the beads of sweat that had sprouted along her forehead and grunted with effort. She had finally reached it, but not without digging deep and spending a lot of her own energy to burrow layer after layer. Then she had finally reached it, a concentrated point lodged within the very shadows of Ren's being.

She took a firm grasp on it, then sucked in a gasp as she began to pull it up and out to the surface. As soon as Genkai yanked it up, it was as if a cork had been pulled. A violent outpour of energy slammed into Genkai and she gave all she had to remain in the same position lest the stream lost control and destroy them both. She continued pulling it up as fast as she could.

The doors to the shrine slammed open and Hiei, Kumara, and Yusuke burst in. Yusuke and Kurama had sensed the powerful energy spike and they'd immediately rushed to locate the origin. They were shocked by what they were seeing: Ren engulfed in a shimmering light and bursting like a star. Her body was arched and her eyes were open wide, but hollow.

"What the hell?" Yusuke braced himself against the force.

Upon seeing the two figures at the center, Hiei's eyes instantly widened and he tried to make a run for them, but Kurama grasped his arm.

"Wait Hiei! If you go any further, you'll only be blown back!" Kurama shouted.

"Are you blind Kurama? What's the old crone doing to her?" Hiei yelled back, and looked once more at Genkai and Ren's unmoving, arched figure.

"It's almost over!" Kurama said and his eyes flashed back to the two at the center of the room.

"What?" Hiei hissed back, but he soon saw what he meant. The energy climax began to dwindle, and the bright light that had surrounded Ren began to fade away. The flux of energy dissipated and the force no longer pressed against them. With a grunt, Genkai tiredly broke away from Ren and fell to her knee, exhausted and panting. Ren remained still and upright for a moment, but as soon as the light dwindled away completely, her eyes slid shut and she fell to the side in a dead faint.

Hiei rushed in to catch her before she hit the ground as Yusuke and Kurama tended to Genkai. Against his bare skin, Hiei could feel the familiar course of electric warmth passing between them, but even so, her skin felt ice cold.

Readjusting her in his grasp, Hiei whirled angrily towards the old psychic who was waving the other boys away with annoyance, "What the hell did you do?"

Genkai glared right back, still breathing heavily, "Let me catch my breath runt. If you hadn't just noticed, I'm a little drained."

Hiei growled, but at the feel of the slight rustling in his arms, snapped his eyes towards Ren's face. A little color had returned to her face and she was no longer cold- she felt warmer, almost hot. Her eyes fluttered open as if she'd just been woken from a deep sleep. She looked around, disoriented, until she finally landed on Hiei's face.

"Hiei…?" she mumbled weakly. She attempted to sit up, but she couldn't manage it on her own so Hiei helped guiding her up. She laid a hand on her head.

"What just happened?" she asked uncertainly.

Hiei trained heated eyes on Genkai, "That's what we'd all like to know."

Genkai ignored Hiei's anger and stared straight at Ren, "It was a deep barrier, much deeper than I'd ever anticipated."

"Just as I thought," Kurama said, "Were you able to reach it?"

Genkai nodded grimly, "Yes- that's what that spike was. She hasn't been harmed; when I reached the lock, like a pipe under strong pressure that has built up with no way to be relieved, as soon as I created the opening, I was almost forced back by the sudden escape of it all. It was concentrated so much it was even able to manifest itself into visible light."

Ren shakily picked herself up, no longer relying on Hiei's support to keep her steady although he kept beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded, her head finally beginning to clear. She felt strange, suddenly buzzing and light-headed. She couldn't immediately shake the feeling of suffocating in darkness either although it was so much more insignificant.

"So… I'm still lost." Yusuke crossed his arms, "What just happened?"

"Shut it dimwit," Genkai snapped, "Ren, take off that ring on your finger." She ordered right after.

Ren blinked and touched the smooth metal of the accessory. Ever since she'd received it from the very beginning, she hadn't taken it off, "What? But this is what lets me-"

"Just take it off," Genkai instructed her. Ren carefully slid the small piece of metal off her finger uncertainly. She didn't understand.

"You shouldn't need that piece of crap anymore. It's as good as junk now." She remarked casually.

Ren frowned at the ring. What could Genkai mean? She slipped it in her pocket.

"Now Yusuke, I want you to shoot a toned down spirit gun out-" Genkai began, but Yusuke was already stretching his arm.

"Whatever you say, you old hag!" Yusuke grinned cockily and pointed his finger like a gun.

Genkai's eyes widened and she barked, "Not in here you moron!" But she spoke to late.

"Spirit gun!"

An explosion of wood and energy echoed around the room. What used to be a wall was now a gaping hole that smoked slightly around the edges. As Genkai and the others twitched in disbelief, Yusuke laughed heartily.

"How was that grandma? Give the word, and we'll go for a round two!"

However, instead of receiving his expected cries of amazement, when he turned, Yusuke shrank under the evil aura that was surrounding Genkai.

Hiei watched with distaste as Genkai proceeded to beat the living shit out of her pupil while Kurama stood to the side and watched the spectacle with hidden amusement. But when he turned back to Ren, he grew concerned. Her eyes were wide with bewilderment and she was frozen in shock.

"What's wrong?" he growled, but she slowly shook her head which only confused him. Her eyes were trained on the smoking hole in the wall and turned to meet Hiei's gaze with raw surprise.

"That was…big." She breathed, for she was at a loss for words. But she had just seen that, with her own eyes- without the ring. It'd been perfectly clear to her and she'd _felt_ it from the very beginning. She couldn't grasp the reality of what just happened.

"What?" Hiei said, still a little confused, but he soon felt Kurama approach his side.

"I see… you were able to see it on your own. I can definitely feel it now myself. There's no question that Genkai _did _release something inside of you."

Genkai dragged a semi-conscious, black and blue Yusuke by the scruff of his shirt besides them. Ren fearfully looked from the beaten Yusuke to the smug Genkai. She quickly made another note-to-self to not _ever, ever_ piss the old lady off.

"You must be tired Ren. While unlocking the barrier, your body was put through a lot of stress. We should turn in for the night." She dumped Yusuke on the ground without batting an eyelash and turned to leave.

She paused at the door to look at them one last time, "I expect you first thing in the morning. Don't dawdle."

She left before Ren could ask for what.

~.~.~.~.~

Red.

So much red.

Dead bodies littered the ground, fire surrounding everything like a bright flower of death.

Flashes of people running and crying, screaming and choking, filled my ears. Wherever I looked, another horrible image presented itself gruesomely and cruelly.

Then it all rushed away to dark as if it had all been sucked up.

All the sounds of horror had disappeared, but there was one small voice that remained.

A lone baby's cry rang out, loud and clear, echoing.

~.~.~.~.~

I slowly sat up, sighing. That nightmare…I shivered. It'd been different, worse than most.

In order to spare myself the rising sense of horror, I made myself forget it and looked around me. Botan was still peacefully asleep beside me on the next futon. I carefully got up and crept to the curtained window, trying to not wake her up.

Pulling back a curtain, I could see the sun beginning to peek out but not enough to let light into the room.

_It's barely dawn_, I thought to myself. Genkai had said first thing in the morning, right? Maybe I could get away with a little time, until the sun had fully risen.

I escaped the dark room quietly and rubbed my arms when I was suddenly confronted with the cold of the morning. I remembered the way out as best as I could, but soon found myself lost in the massive temple. Sighing, I figured I could explore on my own for a little and then see Genkai, but another thought put a damper in those plans. Where would she even be?

Having no idea where to go, I wandered around for a while before sliding open a door that led outside. Relieved, I stepped out onto the porch and breathed in the morning air. A stirring inside the pit of my stomach and mind made me stiffen in confusion.

What was that? It reminded me of when Hiei was interacting with me through the bond, but this was different. I could feel several different things, almost all of them coming from one direction. Nervously, I decided to try and follow it.

As I walked on, I soon could hear the lashing and grunting of fighting. Picking up my speed, I rounded the corner of the porch and the feeling was strongest now. Away from the temple, exactly like yesterday, Hiei and Kurama were together and fighting again.

"Oh Ren, you're up early. Good morning," I squeaked in surprise when the voice came from behind me. I whirled around to find Yukina smiling softly and holding a tray of rice balls.

"Yukina," I sighed in relief, "you scared me." I admitted.

She sent me an apologetic frown as she set the tray down, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

I waved her off, "No, I'm just a bit jumpy. I was just walking around for a while and I didn't expect anyone else to be up. I'm supposed to meet up with Genkai when the sun rises."

"Oh, I'm usually up this early to tend to Puu."

On cue, Puu stuck his head out of a room and blinked curiously at me. I still wasn't used to the two ton bird, but after it gently pressed the top of his head under my arm several times, I complied and patted his head. He cooed happily.

"After you get past how huge he is, he's pretty adorable." I smiled, rubbing down his neck. There was a loud thump as Puu rolled over on his side like a dog. Yukina and I laughed.

"Are you hungry? I have plenty of riceballs?" She offered.

"You weren't going to eat them?" I asked although my stomach was beginning to rumble. I know that she would probably give them to me even if they were for her.

But luckily Yukina shook her head, "Oh no, I already had some. I brought these for Hiei and Kurama, but I made a lot, so feel free to have a couple."

I gratefully took one, and together we sat and watched the two boys continue to train. Puu rested his big head between the two of us and I petted him absentmindedly.

"Have they been out here long?" I asked, knitting my brows together.

Yukina sighed, "I'm not really sure, but there were already at it when I came out. I went back in to make them something, but I'm not even sure that they know that we're here." She paused, "Ren, are you alright? Last night, Botan, Kazuma and I heard a big explosion from the shrine. We were going to go see what happened, but you all came back before we did. What happened?"

I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head, "Eh heh, well… Yusuke kind of got carried away."

I guess I didn't have to explain any further because Yukina's face actually lit up in relief and she giggled into her hand, "Ah, I suppose that isn't surprising, but I'm glad you all are ok."

I wondered if Yukina knew what had happened since she was a demon too. I figured it was unlikely that she couldn't sense anything different, but if she did or not she didn't say or hint at. I changed the subject.

"How are you Yukina? It's been a while," I said.

She thought about it, "It has hasn't it? But I've been good. I love living in the temple and with Genkai; it's always very nice and I'm not lonely anymore."

"You used to be alone?" I asked curiously, but then remembered my manners. "Oh I'm sorry! I don't mean to pry."

Yukina shook her head with a smile, "No, it's alright really. You see, I'm an ice apparition, bound to the realm of ice, but one day I was captured for my tears. It was really a terrible time."

"Your tears?" I repeated in amazement.

She nodded, "Yes, when I cry, valuable stones form from my tears. The evil humans who had captured me sold them on the black market." She dug into her pocket and produced a single blue-tinted stone. I carefully took it and stared at the beautiful stone. Did someone really make Yukina cry for these jewels? That was terrible.

"Fortunately, that's when Kazuma and everyone else rescued me. I returned to the ice world then, but I couldn't stay there any longer- I left for good in search of my long lost brother."

My eyes widened, "You have a brother?"

Yukina smiled at me from the corner of her eyes, "Yes, and my own people hid it from me. I couldn't stay- so I came out here on my own."

I looked down, "It must have been hard… to leave your home."

"It was a little hard at first, I guess." She said, "But I have a new home. Here, with everyone." She smiled sincerely, "I don't regret it at all."

I smiled too, "What about your brother? Did you ever find him?"

Her mischievous smile caught me off guard. I didn't typically think of her as the mischievous type- that was more Botan's job. Her eyes were twinkling with a knowing type of mirth. She turned back to look at the sparring duo.

"Well…" she began with a tiny grin, but then stopped short with a light gasp. "Oh dear, the sun's all the way up now. Didn't you have to go and meet Genkai?"

I looked at the sun and leapt to my feet when I noticed that it was completely up now, "You're right! Oh no, I'll be late! Yukina, do you know where Genkai would be right now?"

She thought for a second, "She's usually in the shrine this early."

That was the room where she took me yesterday. I nodded, "Ok, thank you. See you later, and thanks for the food." I waved quickly and sped off, hopefully in the right direction. As I ran off, I noticed Hiei pause and then get unceremoniously knocked down by Kurama once again. Although I wondered if he'd seen me, I didn't stop and headed for the shrine.

By the time I reached the shrine, I knew it was past 'first thing in the morning.' Frowning and nervous that I'd be in trouble for being late, I carefully slid the door open. _Maybe she slept in too. I can't be_ that _late. It'll be fine._ I told myself as I carefully peeked inside. It seemed empty. Feeling suddenly relieved, I relaxed and went inside, closing the door behind me.

There was a light _whoosh_ behind me and I whirled around. I barely had time to dive down before a ceramic plate shattered against the wall behind me. Where my head had just been. Trembling, I slowly pushed myself up.

"What the…?" I squeaked.

"You're late." Genkai emerged in my view, her face blank and casual as if she hadn't almost killed me by throwing a plate in my face. Judging by how it had completely shattered, it hadn't been a light throw either.

"Are you crazy?!" I yelled.

"Hardly." She retorted bluntly. "Besides, I was expecting that you'd be able to repel it, from what Koenma told me."

I couldn't believe my ears, "But I don't even know how to do that!" The first time, I thought it had been Asami's, but the second time in the fire, I hadn't been aware that I'd formed it at all.

Genkai rolled her eyes, "Which is why I'm here. Last night, I unlocked a serious power inside of you, but regardless of how much there is it won't do anything unless you learn how to use it to your advantage. You need to be taught how to harness your newfound energy. That way you won't be a burden to the ones you care about."

At the blank expression on my face, she muttered, "This'll be harder than I thought."

"First thing's first," Genkai said, "You need to be able to tap in and utilize your energy at will, the basics of the basics. After a while, this will become second nature to you and you won't have to worry about it, but you're not nearly there yet."

I frowned. _That was basic?_ I took a deep breath, "Ok, where do I start?"

Genkai chuckled, "Don't be worried. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Concentrate,"

"On what?" I was grasping for straws; I had no idea what I was doing.

"Surely you must feel something different after last night."

I instantly thought about the strange feeling in my mind, "Okay."

"Concentrate on that. Take your time to familiarize yourself with it and when you feel ready, try and draw it out." Genkai strolled over to her and pulled out a small stone. It was nothing special, just a rock that she must have found outside. She set it down in front of me. I looked at her questioningly.

"Your objective is to lift this stone without touching it in any way."

I gaped at her, "How am I supposed to do that?"

Genkai arched a brow, "Figure it out. Don't make me treat you like the dimwit- first, concentrate on drawing out your energy. Then using it to your advantage, find a way to pick the stone up without touching it."

I guess that was the only hint she was going to give me. Sighing and closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate on the new feeling inside me. It was like a fire, except it didn't burn with heat; rather, it burned with power.

I opened my eyes, "Okay, I think I got it."

"Now use it to lift the stone."

I placed my hands on either side of the stone and imagined sending the feeling to the tips of my fingers. Nothing happened.

"It's not working," I complained.

Genkai growled, "Then stop complaining and try again."

The next couple of hours were long and spent in a similar fashion. Each time, I would concentrate on the feeling and utterly fail to move the rock. I tried different hand positions and eventually got so tired of nothing happening, I even tried to make the rock float with telepathy, which was of course utterly ridiculous. I was just so frustrated.

However, it struck me as ironic with how angry I was getting while Genkai just sat there, totally relaxed.

"I can't do it!" I gritted out. Genkai sipped calmly on a cup of tea that Yukina had brought earlier. She'd brought one for me too, but Genkai had forbidden me from touching it until I managed to manifest at least a little of my energy.

"Try again," she smirked and repeated _for the thousandth time._

"Alright, is there _anything_ you can help me with? Another hint you can give me? I'm getting nothing done!" I growled.

"Even if I wanted to give you a hint, there's nothing I can ultimately do. This is your problem and _you_ should be the one to overcome it. You're obviously not trying."

"What?" I exclaimed. "I'm not _trying?_ You obviously haven't been watching me fail over and over the last few hours!"

Genkai eyed me with light humor which only made me madder.

"Well, since I obviously don't know what I'm talking about, maybe you should stop wasting your breath patronizing me and focus more on actually doing something." She took another sip from her tea, un-phased.

My hands were shaking, I was feeling so frustrated. The only other time I remember feeling this mad was at Hiei! Who knew that there was some other person in this world that could make me so mad?

I took a deep breath. The faster I did this, the faster I could be done with it. But I could hardly focus at this point.

The soft thunk of Genkai's cup on the ground resounded through the quiet shrine, "One word of advice," she said tersely.

I stopped what I was doing, surprised that she was finally giving me something.

"Do you really think doing the same thing over and over will get you different results?"

I paused, blinking, and looked down at the stubborn, unmoving stone that hadn't moved an inch since the beginning of it all.

She was right. Of course... I was such an idiot.

I cupped my fingers around the stone.

_The same thing over and over... _I closed my eyes, concentrating once again. I felt the energy there, like I had before so many times already, but this time I took my time to delve a bit deeper, taking my time to feel how it swirled, how it pulsed in mind. I imagined the energy sinking down, traveling down my body and throughout my veins to tips of my fingers and toes. I held it there, just letting the feeling buzz throughout me, remembering how I'd felt deep inside myself.

I went back to how I'd felt when Asami had attacked, when the roof had almost crushed me. I hadn't been thinking those times- so why was I having so much trouble now? Then it hit me so hard that I almost lost my feeling of control.

Was that it? Was that what I was doing wrong? All this time, I'd been thinking so hard, but back then my mind had been totally blank- no thinking at all. I had only felt, only reacted.

I concentrated on building up the energy through my arms, to my hands, and from my palm to my fingertips, imagining the energy in my fingers then leaking from my fingers to enclose the stone and form a sort of bubble.

How had I felt then? Terrified to be sure, but that couldn't be the trick behind it. I couldn't rely on being scared all the time. Right now I had to find something else to draw from. _Something else..._

"It's about time."

My eyes snapped open in surprise. I looked at Genkai who was smirking.

"It just took a thousand tries, but you finally got it." she said.

I glanced down at my hands and I couldn't believe what I saw. A tiny sphere had wrapped itself around the stone. Whenever I pressed my hands closer towards it, I felt the clear sphere press back.

"I...did it?" I breathed in awe, not believing my own eyes. Gingerly and treating it like a fragile piece of glass, I lifted the barrier up to my face. The stone appeared to be floating inside of it.

"I did it. I did it!" I felt the excitement build up inside me and I whirled around to show Genkai who was chuckling. However, when I looked down, my stone was no longer there. The barrier had disappeared.

A window shattered. With a twitching eye, I looked at the small hole in the window across the room and slowly turned back to Genkai. To my utter disbelief, she began to cackle with glee.

"Don't look so down," She snorted, "It might not have lasted long, and it might not have been much, but it's progress regardless. Don't worry about the stupid window either- Yusuke can just fix that while he's fixing the hole in my wall."

I cracked a small smile and suddenly felt much more lighthearted. I had done it by myself!

Genkai turned to leave, "We'll stop here for the day. Typically, I won't cut you these breaks, but granted it was your first time, I'll grant an exception."

"Genkai," I waited for her to look at me. I bowed humbly, feeling slightly ashamed, "I'm sorry about yelling earlier. I was out of line."

Genkai grinned in amusement, "Heh, please I can handle a little temper tantrum from a kid any day. I've dealt with much worse and old age tends to make you a bit wise."

I didn't really like being called a kid, but I had just learned the hard way that she really was wise and someone to be respected.

"Now, I'm sure the others are wondering where we are; plus, a rest wouldn't hurt. These old bones aren't what they used to be."

I smiled in gratitude, "Yes." and followed her with a skip in my steps.

~.~.~.~.~

I took the longest bath of my life after that. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was until I'd finally stopped trying to conjure a barrier. Genkai explained how my energy was gathered in a pool of sorts in my body. There was only so much I could use at once before it replenished. In this case, I'd used so much so quickly, I didn't have much energy left which left me physically and mentally tired though I really hadn't done anything.

"So I happened to use it all at once, I'd just have to wait for a bit to get it all back?" I questioned.

Genkai pressed her mouth together, "Technically yes, but on no occasion do you want to reach that point. Any energy used after that without having time to recover taps directly into your life energy pool. Your life energy is your very life itself. The more you use it, the more life you lose. Use it all, and you're done. No recovering, no second chances- the end."

I gulped and stopped asking about it. I'd asked for the bathroom after that and Genkai had showed me where, even brought me a change of clothes- a scarlet kimono. I'd almost forgotten that I had nothing else since everything had been destroyed in the fire. I accepted them from her with much thanks.

I ran my fingers through my clean, damp hair after I got out, and frowned slightly at my reflection in the mirror. More than a month ago, I wouldn't have recognized the girl staring back at me.

While nothing had really changed, there was still something so different about that girl... Other than my hair of course, I silently joked to myself. I became sad. After that night at the fountain with Hiei, I hadn't put up my hair with my mother's ribbon since, but it must have been destroyed in the fire. Now it was just gone forever... I shook my head sadly. No, that was wrong. I didn't really need her ribbon to keep her in my heart, but still... it was the only memento that I had of her.

Sighing lightly, I let my hair fan around my shoulders and went out. I felt a little embarrassed in the kimono, but when I found my way to kitchen and found Yukina preparing a batch of tea to serve to everyone, she told me that the color looked well on me, which I blushed at.

I helped her carry out the tray and cups to the main room where the entire group was merrily chatting. I paused in the doorway with the tray, feeling a light sense of déjà vu.

The atmosphere was so different now. Before coming here, danger seemed to lurk around every corner, but just from a glimpse it was like all our worries had just been lifted away. We were far from it all and we were safe here. I smiled warmly, feeling peaceful and completely at ease.

But I immediately noticed something missing. Or more like someone.

Botan perked upon seeing my enter the room, "Oh Ren! I was wondering where you've been all day. Oh my, that colorful looks wonderful on you!"

I smiled, "I've been with Genkai all day." I checked the various faces once more before reassuring myself that he really wasn't there, "Hey, where's Hiei?"

Kurama pointed at the screen door that led directly outside, "He's outside right now. If I remember correctly, I'm sure he even mentioned something about having no one bother him right now."

Frowning, I stared at the extra cups and I shrugged, "Well I should at least serve him his tea. You know... so it doesn't get cold or anything." I thought quickly. Kurama just grinned and nodded.

"Of course. We wouldn't want it getting cold."

I smiled in relief and proceeded to going outside. Sure enough, there he was on the edge of the porch. One leg hung off the edge, the other pulled to his torso, an arm rested on top of it. He seemed to be in deep thought. I closed the door behind me loud enough so that he knew I was there.

Quietly, I walked up next to him and set the tray down beside himself and let myself down, hanging my own legs over the edge and placing my hands in my laps. I looked at him carefully.

"...I brought you some tea," I said .

"Hn. Figures that the fox can't even deliver a simple message." he said sharply. I frowned.

"No, don't blame him. I just wanted to see how you were doing." I said, but he didn't answer.

A few minutes passed with us just sitting in terse silence. Of course, I was the one to give in. I needed to ask him just so I knew.

"Hiei, I wanted to ask you-"

"About your dreams." It wasn't a question. He stared glumly forward.

I stopped short, "What?" My throat closed up. "So... you really were in there. In my dream."

I stared at Hiei. He didn't even flinch.

"...Yeah."

I felt like I had known, but I hadn't really thought through this. I didn't know if I was more upset or more relieved. I just didn't know. What I did manage to eventually say was a whispered, "How?"

Hiei finally glanced at me, if only from the corner of his eye, "When you were falling asleep. I was able to connect to your mind through the bond."

"Oh." was all I could say. What was I supposed to feel? Apparently, even Hiei was confused by my pitiful response.

"Oh? That's all?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, I don't have anything else to say. What's done is done I guess. It needed to come out sooner or later anyways. It really should have come out sooner." I snuck another look at him. "Were you there the whole time?"

Hiei nodded.

"So you saw everything then." I sighed.

"How long have you been having them?" Hiei asked.

"For a while now. Right after Manabu was killed."

Hiei didn't say anything for a beat, letting the information sink in. He growled.

"You haven't said anything for _that _long?"

I flinched at his tone of voice, but really, what else could I expect?

"Yes... I'm really sorry Hiei. I should've told you and the others a long time ago. I think the reason I didn't though was because somehow I thought, if I didn't say any of it out loud, everything could still go on like normal; like none of it was real, and all of it wasn't actually happening."

Hiei was blunt, like the ripping off of a band-aid, "That's moronic."

I actually smiled, "I know." I paused with another sigh, "I guess I'll have to spill my guts when we go back inside, but it's actually kind of strange."

Hiei fully turned his head towards me, caught off guard by my cheer, "Strange?"

"Yeah. I feel so much better, like another burden's been taken away." I laughed, "You're pretty good at doing that Hiei. I don't know what I'd do without you." The words had come from nowhere. The worst part about them though was that I couldn't cram them back into my mouth. My face suddenly burned and I frantically grabbed at another subject.

"So you never answered my question," I said rapidly, startling him, "How are you? I feel like I haven't really talked to you since before getting here." It was kind of true in a way, excluding the small snippet when he carried me the rest of the way here.

He eyed me suspiciously and turned back with a classic, "Hn. Are you an idiot?"

I rolled my eyes. It was as if the only things he knew what to say were insults. "Relax Hiei. I was just trying to have a friendly chat together, but I guess we can't even do that without saying something to offend each other." I smiled when he snorted.

"Ridiculous."

"No it's not." I smiled and then pictured him fighting with Kurama, "Say Hiei, why have you been training with Kurama?"

Hiei growled and glared at me, "I'm just taking that as a stupid question."

I frowned. Hadn't Genkai said something similar? In a way, I really did know, but I wanted Hiei to tell me himself.

"It's not a stupid question." I insisted, "I just don't see why you're putting yourself through something like getting beaten down. With Kurama, you don't have a chance." He immediately tensed, but it was true, no doubt about it.

"Don't you think I'm aware of that? I'm not as ignorant as you." Hiei said.

"I'm not ignorant!" I retorted in annoyance. "But if you know, then why do you do it?"

Hiei lifted his right arm and flexed his fingers. Confused, I looked down at the clenching and unclenching hand- years of danger and a tough lifestyle were reflected from the many subtle scars that lined the coarse skin of his palms and fingers. After a while, he fisted his hand closed and I was startled to find it lightly shaking.

"I'm so weak, it's pathetic." Hiei gritted out, "It's maddening." He was holding his fist so hard, I was afraid he was going to break skin. "That's why I need to keep training as much as I can- to get stronger. I'm done with being useless."

I stared at him quietly, searching him. Despite the intense ache behind his words, I could feel the jumbled mix of emotions pushing past the barriers of my mind. Anger, remorse, guilt, confusion and many more. In a leap of faith, I gently grabbed the clenched hand.

Surprise outweighed his natural instinct to yank his hand back at the random gesture, and he only looked at me with slight bewilderment as I worked his hand open and smoothed the fingers out.

"Don't worry- I know you can become stronger." I told him sincerely. "I'm tired of being useless too. Hey, I know," my eyes twinkled with the sudden idea that'd just hit me.

"We can train together. Genkai's teaching me how to control my spirit energy. Watch," I became excited as I dropped his hand and focused on producing another small sphere of energy. After a few tries, I finally managed to do it and I showed him eagerly.

Hiei blinked and then smirked. A moment later, he burst out into laughter.

His laughs rang in my ears. I was so caught off guard, my small achievement popped almost instantly. My cheeks burned in embarrassment.

"What's so funny?" I asked, unamused. "Stop laughing!" I yelled at him with a hot face. I'd been shocked when I'd seen Hiei laugh the first few times, but to have him laughing like _this_...was almost inconceivable.

He smirked at me, "It's hilarious that you really expect to train with me with only something like _that. _You couldn't even sustain it."

"Lay off! I just started today! If I work hard enough, I bet I can at least defend myself against you. You know, controlling barriers and all," I retorted sharply and he barked another laugh.

"Hn, I highly doubt it, but alright. It's a deal." He grinned knowingly, as if he'd already beaten me. He _really_ thought I stood no chance. And, true, right now I didn't, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of fanning his ego even more.

"No backing out, you know," I taunted back.

"That goes without saying." He replied confidently.

Now my inner-fire was fully motivated! I would work from dusk till dawn in an effort to become stronger! I shot him a knowing grin, pitying him for underestimating me. He obviously didn't understand that once a woman set her mind on something, there was no stopping her! And I had my secret weapon, which Hiei knew nothing about.

That _something else_ that I needed instead of fear...

Let's just say, that as long as Hiei was there, I would never run out of it.

* * *

><p>Hmm... I wonder what Ren's 'something else' from Hiei is... ;D What do you think guys? xD And what did ya'll think of the chapter? I was happy that I was able to finish it even though it's super late... bleh, dumb school. So little sleep ;_;<p>

But thank you so much for all my reviews guys! I love you so much ;A;

Please review! Thank you :'D

**Kagome141414: **Yup, Hiei finally took the initiative and intruded without asking! o.o Luckily it wasn't a different kind of dream o.O And I wonder what you thought Kuri saw? ;D Hope you liked this chapter!

**DemonMiko Jenna: **I knowwww~! *fangirl squee* I'm glad you really liked it! :DD Sorry this one is late, but I hope you enjoyed this one! :)

**Guest(1): **yay I updated! Hope you enjoyed this one! Thank you for your review c:

**FireStorm1991: **It was mostly through the bond c: But I'm so glad you liked the chapter! :D I hope you liked this one too :)

**Tay: **I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it was super cute :D I just had to fit iit in somehow... I have all these fluffy-duffy ideas in my head, but it's soooo OCC that I couldn't possibly do them x3 But I like to imagine~! And haha! Please feel free to clog up my reviews as much as you'd like xD And, you're absolutely right! Yay! My 100th reviewer! *HUG TACKLE* And I would love to do something for you! :D What would you like? A special one-shot? :3 I wish you had an account so I could PM you, but we'll work something out! :D

**dragoscilvio: **I know what you mean! ;D It's just so difficult setting up the perfect scenarios for fluffy moments because Hiei's so tsundere! xDD Lol! Thank you for your review and I hope you liked this chapter even though there wasn't really any fluff in this one :)

**Heve-chan: **Aw, thank you for your review! And yes, school is a murderer on free time ._. and it's just so strange how ironically lovable Genkai is xD I hope you enjoyed this update! :D

**Nani san: **Yeah, Ren's going through some tough times but she's a strong girl :) Plus, this whole experience is really maturing her as a person, so I think she's learning for the better :) Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter c:

**TallyYoungblood: ...**I see your point. BUT I'LL TAKE YOU ALL DOWN! Lol! I'm just kidding! xDD Don't worry, we can all share him! x3 I'm glad you're enjoying the dream sequences too! Believe it or not, I just randomly thought of them in the beginning and threw them in there, but now they're such a crucial piece of the plot o.o Funny how things work out :) Thank you for your review! :D

**sammycrusinix: **Ah thank you for the good luck! I'll be needing it xD And I'm glad it was unexpected twist :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much for your review!

**DDragonWhisper: **:') Thank you so much... your reviews always brighten my day! Without readers like you, my story would be nothing anyways! So I hope I can keep writing to please! That's all I'm really here for... sharing my imagination with everyone else who's willing to take it :)

**Juliedoo: **No, thank you for reviewing! :D I really love that face btw, mind if I steal it? n_n (so cute!) Anyways, I'm really glad you like it :)) I hope you liked this chapter!

**hii-chan: **Haha! Thank youu! I know this one's late, but I hope you still enjoy it! xD

**Gaarasgirl23: **Thank you for reviewing and I'm so happy that you got sucked into my story! :) Being a writer, having something like that said really makes me the happiest girl in the world! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Guest(2): **Thank you for the review! I try my best to keep them all IC although I admit it seems to become more and more difficult as Hiei continues to change bit by bit c: Hope you like this chapter!

**nonameprincess: **Haha! Twist indeed ;D I hope you liked this chapter and thank you for the review!


	15. A Matter of Pride

Okay... don't hurt me ._. I know it's been waaay more than one week, but school has been kicking my A! T-T It really has... but I'm determined to not wait any longer to update! I'm taking advantage of the 3-day weekend I have! O.O

And hey, I had an idea! A couple of chapters ago, **Tay** was my 100th reviewer (woo~!) and I'm going to give her a special one-shot one day of her choosing, because although I'm not going to write a sequel, I'm going to have a series of one-shots instead, of everything really, like maybe scenes from the past, scenes that didn't show up in the main story, or post-story! So I'm going to let her choose a scenario or idea for _any character(s)_ in "Our Days Together" and it'll be included in my one-shot series! :D

So I had this idea and I want to run a little more with it! Every 50 reviews, I will write one of those future one-shots of someone's choosing! So I hope you guys start reviewing and putting your own creative caps on! :D The scenarios can be anything! I think it'd be awesome for a little audience participation xD

Review replies at the bottom! Thank you guys so much! You keep me going :') I'm sorry again for the super long wait!

Chapter 15 A Matter of Pride

"Hiei! Wait up," I called out quickly as my fingers finished the knots to hold the bundle of twigs together. I pulled the burden to my chest with a grunt and sprinted off to reach Hiei's patiently waiting figure in the near distance. He glanced at me with a slight grin as I stumbled up to him, slightly out of breath.

"You like taking your time, don't you?" Hiei snorted. I shot him an irritated look.

"No it's not that! These piles aren't light you know," I retorted, tucking the bundle under my arm.

"Give them to me then," Hiei said, regardless of the fact that two similar bundles were propped on his shoulder already, and tried to reach out for my load. I swiped it out of his reach, frowning.

"I'm not a little girl, I can do it," I protested. Hiei just rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Suit yourself, I was just trying to help." he said. I'd known him long enough by this time to see that he was mocking me. Help? Yeah, right. Show me up is more like it!

"Well, I'm just fine, thanks." I checked the sky which had begun the transition from blue afternoon to pink evening. "We should be heading back really soon though. We've already been out here three times today. I'm sure that this is enough wood. Ready?"

Hiei shrugged and we began making the long walk back to Genkai's temple.

The last month had seemed to come and go in no time at all. I could still hardly believe that we'd been here four weeks already. And surprisingly, so much had changed since then, too. After that first day with Genkai, the training had been non-stop and ruthless. That night with Hiei when I'd made my resolve to working hard to develop my new energy, it never occurred to me how literal my ultimatum would be. I typically trained from dusk to dawn every day and Genkai's methods were extreme and maybe on one or two occasions I might've thought about ringing her neck, but it was incredible what I'd been able to accomplish because of it. Never in my wildest dreams could I have seen myself where I was today before coming to her temple, but I had to seriously experience some trying situations to get there.

Of course though, I wasn't the only one who always seemed to be hard at work. During days when Genkai would instruct me outside or would take me into the forest to show me a more difficult technique, I would often see Hiei continuously sparring with Kuwabara, Kurama, or Yusuke. Some days I could see him with only one of them, others with all three of them. Then some way or another, during a quick break or a pause from intense practice, we would catch each other's eyes and the same look of fire with an arrogant smirk would be exchanged.

Our deal had not been forgotten.

Setting the importance of becoming stronger to protect ourselves to the side, he and I were actually very similar in our drives, the irony being that each of us were the reason for motivating us to always be working harder and at our best. In the subtle rivalry that had established itself throughout the month, it was because of how I was improving so quickly that drove Hiei to work harder and because of Hiei's infinite persistence that drove me. Though our goal was to beat the other, it was the other that was giving us the ability to get better. It was funny how that worked out- we were perfectly matched in that case.

But it's not like we were working at every available moment: Genkai rewarded me with afternoons off if a certain training had been more particularly intense that day to allow my body time to recuperate, and there was only so much of a beating that Hiei's own body could take before it could no longer function properly enough to receive a good exercise. Although I could tell that Hiei usually was a bit more reluctant to stop, I personally took complete advantage of those precious times.

During our break times, we often found ourselves together and either spent it just relaxing in silence or being sprawled on the floor where we'd shoot mocking insults to each other while we caught our breath and couldn't move because we were so sore. It wasn't uncommon for us to stroll into the forest and just walk and experience that beauty of nature either. We would have small conversations that usually ended up with making fun of the other or there were the interesting, but few times, where we would have long, deeper conversations. I enjoyed walking in pleasant silence, but the deep conversations with Hiei were always cherished.

I abruptly ran into Hiei's broad back when he paused all of the sudden. My heavy load flew from my grasp and I growled softly, feeling a wave of déjà vu. _This happens way more often than I'd like..._

"Shouldn't you know by now that a little warning would be appreciated Hiei?" I said in irritation, but when the assumed retaliation never came, I immediately forgot my irritation and noticed Hiei's stiff and alert form. Turning gradually, Hiei's eyes slowly swept around the area, only looking toward the tree tops and the skies, even when he offered out a hand for me to get up.

"What is it?" I asked with worry. I already had an idea in mind, but with the setting sun, I didn't particularly like it.

"Can't you hear it?" he said tersely. Surprised, I paused and became silent, opening up my hearing. After a few moments, I looked at him oddly.

"I don't hear anything," I told him with a frown.

"Exactly. "

As soon as he said it, I instantly understood what he meant and I spun around in bafflement. It was like the world had frozen over, only retaining its color. No wind shook the leaves of the forest, there was no chirping or buzzing. Except for the small crunch of our steps over the leafy floor, everything was silent.

"What's going on?" I mumbled softly, the quiet words suddenly sounding very loud as I positioned ourselves back to back.

"Something not good." he said.

_Rustle._ I shrieked as the silence was pierced by a black bird that shot out of one of the tree tops and flapped away, cawing. Hiei shot me a skeptical glance while I just offered an apologetic smile.

"Wait, do you hear that?" I said, my ears catching on to a different sound and I looked up trying to locate the source of it. I squinted against the sunlight when I began to notice a black splotch dotting the pink background, "Are those... birds?

The splotch was growing fast. The larger it got, the louder the sound was. After a mere few moments, it was clear to see that a massive group of black birds with a round, glowing set of six eyes were coming towards us at an alarming speed.

"Hiei...?"I breathed.

Hiei hissed and grabbed my hand without another thought, "Let's go," and we took off, leaving our hard work of the last couple of hours behind.

An afternoon of innocent wood-collecting had suddenly transitioned into a high speed chase from some kind evil bird. I was barely able to glance over my shoulder, but when I did, I almost tripped over myself. The pack of birds had shot down from the sky and were now hot on our heels.

"What's wrong with those birds? Are they demons?" I panted as we continued running.

"What else do you think the abnormally large ravens with multiple pairs of eyes were?"

"But didn't you say once that the demons in Genkai's lands wouldn't attack us?" I asked insistently.

Hiei snorted, "Does it really matter now?"

A dart of black crossed our path and we abruptly skidded to a halt. These weren't just mindless demons. Half of the group behind us had separated and swooped up and over to catch us from the front. The numerous demons quickly circled us in all directions, flying in a circle and trapping us in a whirlwind of black feathers.

Hiei and I stood back to back as the demons continued to fly around us.

I couldn't help but let out a half smile, "This odds aren't looking too good for us..."

I felt Hiei's frame vibrate with a chuckle as he crouched into the position I recognized as his offensive stance. A smug grin rested haughtily on his face, his hand reaching across where the black hilt of his sword was waiting to be drawn.

"Hn. On the contrary, this might just be the perfect opportunity."

I knitted my eyebrows together, allowing the familiar waves that I'd been dedicated to controlling for the past month to start flowing through me, "Opportunity for what? Getting killed?"

Hiei's eyes slid over to mine and he grinned, "Hn, not exactly. Besides, I think I've gone a bit too long without wreaking some kind of havoc and much too long without using my sword to do it."

I reeled in alarm and shook my head at what he was saying even if what he was trying to suggest wasn't a surprise at all, "We're totally outnumbered!"

Hiei grasped the hilt and pulled, the sharp blade slicking across the leather as it scraped the scabbard, "Ren, go hide."

I re-examined the flock of birds that were beginning to eye and caw directly towards us. The time for idle chit chat and ridiculous was coming to a close, "What? Don't be ridiculous! I'm not about to let you take on fifty demonic chickens by yourself!"

"You'll just get in my way if you try to help," he grunted. "It's dangerous for you here. Take cover and lay low- you'll be safe."

"But what about you-"

The birds attacked all at once and chaos ensued. Hiei's sword went flying. As soon as his blade would slash a bird, it dissolved into a gas that thinned out into nothing and would vanish.

Among the flurry of black feathers, I could see several aimed for me. Like second nature to me now, I summoned my energy to my hands and waved each hand across the air, a clear wave of energy appearing like glass. The birds immediately collided into my barriers, exploding and evaporating on impact.

The birds wouldn't stop coming! All around me I was driving my body to its limit to bend, duck, spin, and flip to avoid the oncoming demons and then have the birds collide into my barriers. I could barely focus on what was happening, only that the birds kept coming and dying one after the other. Off to the side, I could see flashes of silver through my peripheral vision as Hiei hacked birds in twos and threes all at once. Several times I almost had a bird get me because I would focus too long on Hiei, but I couldn't help it.

When Hiei used his sword, it wasn't like he was just swinging a weapon around, but was using an extension of his body that moved beautifully and dangerously to the rhythm of his movements as he slashed and swung. Hiei had sword fighting down to an art.

I was shocked back to my own battles as a group of birds hurled themselves into my barriers so hard, I felt my sense of balance teeter and I cried out as I fell to the ground. The birds cawed victoriously and swept themselves around to make the finishing move. I cried out: they were too fast- I barely had raised my hand to make a barrier!

Suddenly, Hiei was there and grunting in pain, clutching his right arm as the birds swept past him, their razor sharp beaks cutting deeply into his skin. My eyes widened in horror at the blood that spurted from the wound and began to dribble down his arm. Switching the sword to his good arm, Hiei leapt and sliced upwards, the momentum driving the force of his blow even higher and catching all the birds in one slash.

"Hiei, your arm!" I gasped, but it was as if he didn't even know it had happened because he whirled around on me, his eyes burning, and started yelling. Was he really going to pick a fight _now?_

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you deaf? I told you to go hide!"

I shot him an angry glare, "I'm not going to do that! I wasn't about to abandon you!"

"I said I could handle them all!" Hiei yelled, "I can't worry about protecting you and killing them all at the same time."

My face burned- from what I wasn't sure. _Protecting me...? _

"I-I never said I needed you to protect me!" I stuttered, completely taken aback and flustered. "I was doing fine on my- Ah!" Hiei dived towards me, encasing me in his injured arm to pull me out of the way as he used his good one to destroy the bird that'd just been about to impale me in the back.

Hiei's eyes burned hotly into mine, "You see? This is exactly what I meant!"

I pushed away his arm (although I felt a twinge of regret and worry because a second later I remembered that it was his injured one as he flinched in pain) and rolled out of his grip. He spun around to take out a few more birds diving towards us, then turned quickly back to me.

"Just stay here," he seethed, but I glared at him stubbornly.

"No. I can fight!"I argued.

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!" We were almost nose to nose, both of our tempers at the edge, but just then I noticed another flash of black behind him.

I reeled back, "Hiei!" I held out my hands on either side of him and concentrated. A round barrier manifested into the air around Hiei and the bird burst into dust.

My heart was racing wildly, "Th-that was a close one... Huh? Hiei look, the birds!"

Hiei whirled around just in time to see the remaining demons, a significantly smaller bunch, rounding themselves up together and flying back up towards the sky.

"Is it over?" I asked hesitantly. Hiei straightened up and eyed the shrinking speck of demons in the distant, obviously as confused as I was.

"Hn. What the hell was that? Those weren't ordinary demons..." Hiei grunted, sliding the sword back into the scabbard with a click.

The world was set into motion again. The wind shook the trees and the buzzing and chirping of normal creatures returned, but it was the sight of bright red still trailing down Hiei's white arm that made my heart skip a beat.

"Hiei, I almost forgot your wound. Let me see it," I reached out to grasp his arm, but he drew it away with a glare. I stared at him in disbelief.

"You can't be serious. I need to stop the bleeding! Forget your pride for a second and just admit that I was fine by myself! Now, give me your arm," I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I snatched his arm and ignored the glares he continued to stare at me with.

"Can you kneel so I can get a better view?" grumbling bitterly, Hiei eventually lowered himself and I was able to check his injury. I winced. The cut wasn't too deep, but it wasn't just a scratch either. I would have to make do with what I _could_ do. I took a deep breath, and positioned my hands directly over the wound. Hiei hissed lightly, and I sighed.

"Sorry, I'll try to be quick. It shouldn't hurt much longer." I closed my eyes and concentrated, feeling the energy flow through me and into my hands, but instead of creating barriers, a warm blue light began to flow from my finger tips onto his skin instead, only stimulating the soothing effects of the sparks that had connected us from the beginning. As gently as I could, I passed my hands up and down over the cut.

"... Since when have you been able to heal?"Hiei muttered quietly while I concentrated on his wound.

"Yukina's been teaching me. She's taken me out a couple of times and has shown me a couple of herbs that could be used as ointments when we've had the chance, too. I'm not nearly as good as her, but this should at least be able to alleviate most of the pain ."

Hiei turned away, "It wasn't that bad in the first place." I didn't answer him and zoned in on the task at hand, feeling the wound beginning to close up. After a while, I removed my hands which were shaking slightly and wiped a bit of sweat off my brow.

"There, the bleeding's stopped and I was able to close it. There's a scar, but with Yukina's help that should go away." I sighed in relief. Hiei eyed the discolored mark on his skin and then surprised me when he gently grabbed my trembling hand. I gasped lightly, but he just quickly let go and frowned.

"You fool," he growled, "You obviously still don't understand the extent of your limits. You must have expended a good amount of your energy to produce all those individual barriers. Then you went ahead and acted even more stupid by expending even more on this scratch. Think before you act next time."

I clenched my fists to stop their shaking although I could feel myself start to become light-headed, "I was just trying to help; I'm fine aren't I?"

"You were just lucky," Hiei retorted, "If I wasn't there, you'd be good as dead."

I gritted my teeth, "You know, I can pull my own weight now! I'm not the same weak girl you met a couple of months ago! And if you just actually thought about for a second, you'd realize that I saved you too just now Hiei." But Hiei was done with this conversation, and started walking past me.

"Come on, we should go back and get the wood we left behind. It's getting dark out."

~.~.~.~.~

The sun was almost entirely gone by the time we returned to the shrine, and we hadn't said a word to each other. I was still fuming and I knew Hiei wasn't about to apologize about it either. The long walk back had been tense and unpleasant.

As we approached the shrine, I blinked in surprise. Over by the side, although slightly shadowed, I first noticed the carrot-top and then a head of light blue hair. I paused curiously and subtly side-stepped to the side to try and get a better view. My eyes popped out and I almost choked when I swallowed. _W-well, well!_

It was an interesting situation to stumble upon! Kuwabara had a firm grasp on Yukina's small hands and was leaning over her and staring deeply into her eyes. His mouth, unlike usual, was whispering quiet, sincere words. I watched in stunned silence as Yukina's wide eyes remained transfixed on him, a red blush alighting her cheeks with each word that he said. And then I realized the very devil himself had frozen in his tracks as soon as he spotted the pair and I watched in fear for Kuwabara's life as Hiei quietly and dangerously loomed towards them, dropping his pile of wood. I paled and followed him. _Run for your life Kuwabara!_

I reached Hiei's side just as Kuwabara and Yukina noticed him (although they didn't until he was right in front of them). Kuwabara and Yukina's faces were flushed a dangerous red, Kuwabara suddenly glaring at Hiei, Yukina looking down, avoiding all eye contact possible. But it was impossible to miss the look of surprise and wonder in her eyes.

"W-What do you want Hiei?" Kuwabara stuttered, coughing into his hand, obviously embarrassed, but Hiei didn't seem to hear him, a dark look having crossed his face. I shrunk in horror as his hand began to twitch towards the hilt of his blade.

"Hey guys!" I said loudly, jolting them both to look up at me. They hadn't noticed me yet, which I used to my advantage.

"Ren!" Yukina squeaked and I quickly climbed on the porch and forced a big smile.

"Say Kuwabara, can you help me with the wood we just collected? We ran into a couple of demons and we got a little banged up."

Kuwabara shot me a grateful look for the opportunity of escape, and he muttered a, "Sure." and went to retrieve the wood. I clapped my hands together and turned to Yukina.

"Yukina can you do us a huge favor? Hiei's arm got injured, so can you bring out some of your herbs and treat him?" Yukina nodded fervently although her face was still pink, noticing the dried blood snaked around Hiei's arm.

"Of course! I'll be right back," and she dashed into the house, leaving Hiei and I alone. I sighed out loud and ran a hand through my hair.

"That was a close one..." I muttered, then froze and began to twitch when I felt Hiei's evil presence all of the sudden behind me. I turned around slowly, producing a cracked smile.

"Haha... Hiei! You don't have to worry anymore, Yukina will be right back with medicine and she'll treat you properly!" I choked out a few more forced laughs, but my feigned attitude wouldn't last long. I could sense the throb of anger radiating towards me at full blast mentally and physically through the bond, as if Hiei were creating imaginary daggers and throwing them all at me. I was thankfully saved by Yukina's return and the additional arrival of Kurama, Yusuke, and Genkai.

"It's about time you slackers got back." commented Genkai, "Where's the wood I asked you to get."

"Kuwabara got them. Sorry, we took so long. A pack of demon birds randomly attacked us on our way back." I said.

Yukina was alarmed, "Demon birds? Is that how you got injured Hiei?" Yukina hurried towards him and gently took his arm into her hands. To my relief, there was a significant change in his mood.

"I see the blood, but I don't see the wound. Oh, is this it?" Yukina lightly traced the scar.

"I was able to get it to stop bleeding, but I couldn't do anything else." I told her with a frown, but she just shook her head.

"No, you did really well." she said brightly, "I can help get rid of the scar a bit and treat it a little more firmly, but otherwise it's completely fine."She looked at me with a smile, "It's amazing how much you've learned so quickly."

I felt bashful, not used to such kind praise, "It was all thanks to you though."

Yusuke whistled, looking Hiei and I up and down, "Wow, it does look like you had a fun time." he chuckled as he plucked a black feather from my hair and eyed our tousled appearances. Our clothes had been cut in several places, dirt and black splotches of some kind of blood from the bird dotting them in random places. I swept my grimy hair from my face.

"I wouldn't have exactly called it fun at the time," I said.

Kurama smiled, "How about we go inside so Yukina can treat Hiei and you can tell us about these birds?"

"Uh, sure. That sounds good." We all went inside and after Yukina had situated herself off towards the side with Hiei, her remedies and a wash cloth set-up beside her, and the rest of us had surrounded the table with cups of tea, I told them about the strange birds.

"Hm," Genkai leaned back with her tea thoughtfully, thinking.

I glanced at them curiously, "You don't think there was anything special about those birds do you?"

Kurama said, "Normally no, but what concerns me is the fact that they targeted you both directly."

"Maybe they just wandered into their territories- Animals get angry over that right?" Yusuke offered, "That would make sense, right? Ren and Hiei became home invaders, stole some of the wood from their branches or something, and then the birds just became pissed off!"

"I... don't think that was it, Yusuke." I said. The others nodded and he just frowned, crossing his arms.

"Well I don't see anyone else coming up with good reasons! I think that it was totally possible."

"To an extent, "said Kurama and then looked at Hiei and I with a small smile, "The chances that it had something to do with a direct attack are very slim. Chances are, it was just a random, aggressive species of demon that were hunting for prey."

When Kurama said it, it did sound more legitimate, "I guess you're right."

"Oh, so when I say something, I'm marked off as stupid, but when Kurama says the exact same thing, you guys listen to him!" shouted Yusuke. An empty cup hit him right on the back of the head, sending him sprawling face first onto the ground.

" You _are _stupid- what Kurama said was completely different. Moron." Genkai promptly stepped on Yusuke's head.

"_Ah haht yoo._" came Yusuke's muffled reply. Genkai just smirked.

"Finished, " Yukina said cheerfully, pulling away the wash cloth from Hiei's skin. As expected, it was like no mark had been made at all to begin with.

I watched with a slight twinge as Hiei kindly thanked her, and I forced myself to look away. I was so stupid for letting something as dumb as that bother me each and every time! But for some reason, I could never help it.

"Anyways," I began, trying to distract myself, "Has Botan come back yet?" A couple of weeks ago, Botan had left to Spirit World in response to a summoning from Koenma. She told us she would only be gone for a little while, but how long was a 'little while' supposed to be?

Kurama shook his head, "There's been no word. Koenma hasn't attempted to establish contact either as of yet."

"Do you know what she had to do?" I asked.

Kurama paused, thinking, "I've had my ideas, but they're mostly unlikely."

I was hoping that he would explain his ideas a bit more, but when he didn't, I figured that he didn't intend to share them in the first place.

"I guess that's it then," I sighed, "Not much else happened."

"We're glad you returned safely though," Kurama said, "and that it was still light out when you were attacked."

"Yeah, we were pretty lucky that way. There were a few close ones, but we handled them." I said proudly.

"Hn."

I glared at Hiei sharply as he stood up and started to leave. He slid the door shut behind him with a loud click, stunning the entire group except for me. I knew why he was sulking.

"Jeez, what's up his ass?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow, resting his cheek in his hand, still on his belly on the floor.

Genkai chuckled, "Maybe your face finally got too ugly for him to handle."

"You're _so_ begging to get pounded grandma!"

"Perhaps something happened earlier." Kurama suggested.

Yukina looked worriedly at the door, "He did seem angry earlier... Ren, maybe you should go talk to him." She looked at me hopefully. I blinked back at her in disbelief.

"What? You want me to go talk to him?" I repeated.

She nodded, "Yes, Hiei always seems to respond a bit more openly to you than the rest of us. Maybe you could help him feel better?"

I started waving my hands in denial, "But no! That's, uh -"

"Yukina _does _have a point," Kurama added with a glance, "Every since we've been here, you and Hiei have spent quite some time together."

My cheeks burned, "Hiei's just acting like a child! He's angry because he won't admit that I helped him with killing those birds." I protested with a grimace.

"Why would he be angry about that?"

"Because he didn't want me to fight in the first place..." I trailed off when I noted all the stares being sent my way. Yukina still looked confused, but the other three were trading knowing looks. I gritted my teeth, seething.

"If you'll excuse me," I said stiffly, placing my hands on the table to push myself up, "I'm going for a walk!"

"Just a walk?" Yusuke asked cockily and I shot him one more glare before opening and sliding the door shut. I'm not sure what they were trying to imply, but I found myself frustrated all over again.

Yukina had asked me to talk to Hiei. Fine. I would go have a _talk_ with him.

I found him where I expected him to be. Just around the shrine, there was a small, grassy area with a large, single tree that Hiei typically enjoyed to spend leisure time under if he was doing nothing else. He was leaning against the trunk, one arm perched on one bent leg, the other leg splayed out, his eyes closed. I stomped directly up to him and crossed my arms with a huff.

He peeled one eye open, disregarding me coldly, "What do you want now?"

"I'm not done with you Hiei! This isn't over." I said.

"I hope this is important for your own sake." He said.

"I want you to fight me."

He obviously hadn't been expecting that. He opened both eyes widely, an eyebrow arched, "Excuse me?"

I crossed my arms and glared down at him, "You heard me. I want to fight, right now." What was I getting myself into?

Hiei stared at me in silence for a few moments before throwing his head back in a brief feat of laughter. I kept my mouth pressed shut.

"Oh really? What ridiculous motivation could you possibly have for wanting to do that?"

"I want you to stop treating me like I can't do anything for myself and that I can hold my own ground using my _own_ abilities. After all, I realized long ago that just trying to tell you anything isn't the best way to get something through your thick head. I can be at your level." I huffed. Sure this idea was crazy, but I would see this through.

"Don't tell me you were being serious about that. I thought you were just being funny."

Ouch. Right in my pride. " Of course I was being serious about that!" I protested angrily, " And if it really is such a _ridiculous_ idea, then fight me to get it over with and prove me wrong. If you win, I'll admit that you were right, but if _I _win, then you have to admit that I was _and _get on your knees to apologize."

Hiei was actually grinning now, "What? I don't get an apology, but you do? That hardly seems fair."

"You won't be the one getting one anyways." I retorted smartly.

Hiei stood up, "You do realize that you have no chance of winning right?"

I didn't respond, only turned around and repositioned myself in the middle of the field. My heart began to hammer as I watched Hiei remove the scabbard from his belt and set it on the ground. I sighed inwardly. If Hiei had fought me with his sword, there was no way I was going to come out of this with just a couple of lumps or bruises. Maybe I wouldn't have come out of it at all...I shook my head. No, I was almost positive that Hiei wouldn't seriously injure me, but he wouldn't give me anything just hands down either.

"You're not looking to sure of this anymore," Hiei chuckled as he walked forward, "Don't worry, if you give up now, I won't make you get on your knees when you apologize."

I crouched, feeling the buzz of the pre-fight beginning to charge throughout me. I could do this- I know I could. I hadn't just dilly-dallied through those long punishing days with Genkai. I was much stronger, faster, and nimble than I'd ever thought I could be, and I had my barriers. Besides, I had to keep in mind the reason I was doing this in the first place.

I just wanted Hiei to see that I could be strong too.

He held out both arms in front of him, grinning smugly, "Be warned, I'm not going to go easily just because it's you."

I half-smiled in return, "You sound like you already know what's going to happen."

"I do." and Hiei charged.

I gasped and barely had any time to swipe my arm in front of me to produce a barrier just in time to block Hiei's full-on punch. I gritted my teeth, the impact of Hiei's attack more than I'd expected. I flipped backwards as Hiei bounced off my barrier the other way, skidding across the grass.

He didn't pause and sprinted towards me again. I wouldn't be caught off guard this time.

I ducked down as Hiei swung out his right fist, left fist, failing both times to land any blows. His stomach was left unguarded and I narrowed my eyes, spotting the opportunity. I needed to switch to the offensive and gain the upper hand as quickly as possible.

Wrapping each of my hands in a barrier, I aimed for the soft spot. Hiei flipped backwards, my fist inches away, and I sprinted towards him. I'd already managed to swap our positions. I swung my fists as fast as I could, aiming for his sides, but he kept using his arms to block and would swat them roughly away to cancel out my barriers.

He blocked too slow! My right fist was inches from his face-!

The world flipped upside down as his kick knocked my legs out from under me. The sensation of gravity overwhelmed for a terrible second before I noticed Hiei's fist coming down on me. I wasn't going to lose just like that!

Thrusting all of my weight and arms over my head, my fingers brushed and clung fast to the ground as I flipped over just as Hiei's fist collided with the ground. When he pulled back his arm, my breath caught in my throat. Where his fist had been, where my stomach had been a second before, lay a good sized hole in the dirt.

I skidded backwards in disbelief. He did know that we weren't trying to mortally wound each other right?

"Hiei-" I risked saying, but I was stupid to think that there would be a chance to exchange words because Hiei was right back on top of me.

I could barely keep up with his punches with each barrier I created and if I tried to sustain one, I would lose my mobility and opportunity to lay any blow myself!

_How am I supposed to win this?_

"You need to pay attention!" Hiei shouted and hammered his toughest hit yet. Each barrier that I produced spent more and more of my energy and I was creating them so quickly, the quality of each seemed to be getting worse too; the one I'd just formed had no chance of holding his blow. I was sent rolling backwards, skidding across the grass and dirt and flipping onto my belly.

"Had enough?" Hiei shouted from where he stood. I spat out stray pieces of grass that had invaded my mouth.

"Hardly!" But seriously, what was I going to do? I couldn't just keep going in trying to defend or attack. I needed to come with a plan, something to get my point across, and ideally in the next couple of seconds before Hiei came after me again. _If only I could get him to the point so he couldn't attack anymore..._ But he obviously had plenty of energy to spare. Although he was breathing a bit heavier than before, it was nothing in comparison with my panting. I was already sore all over, but he looked just a bit ruffled.

And that's when I spotted it. It was just a bit in front of Hiei's foot. My eyes widened as a crazy idea popped into my head.

_Maybe... this is stupid enough to work!_

I forced myself up even though my entire body was beginning to protest. Hiei had crouched to attack once more, but he paused as he watched me. I grinned knowingly and laid out my hands, and focused on each palm.

Large crystal-like spheres appeared on each one and Hiei only watched, transfixed and non-moving. I took a deep breath and imagined the air swirling around inside each of my barriers. I knew it was dangerous to try this so soon, but if I could do it right, then I might just be able to pull this off!

Hiei gasped as I began to pull the spheres in on themselves. It was incredibly difficult, like squeezing a balloon harder and harder, but not hard enough to let it pop and then sustaining it to the point of bursting.

Hiei's eyes widened. He must've known what I was doing and I smirked as I continued to compress the spheres into smaller, smaller orbs. They were as tiny as rubber balls now, but I knew if I tried to squeeze them any tighter, I would be risking my own life.

_I can't produce another pair of these, so I hope this is enough-!_

I charged and thrust myself off the ground and into the air. Clutching each of the tiny barriers in my hand, I threw them down, giving me only a few seconds to see Hiei jump as far back as he could and for me to encase myself in a new barrier.

The compressed barriers made impact.

_BOOM!_

~.~.~.~.~

"What the hell was that?" Yusuke shouted and thrust the door open just in time to see huge pieces of debris flying in all directions.

"What's going on?" Kurama gasped as the others spilled out onto the porch.

"I can't see anything through all that smoke!" Kuwabara cried out, "Was it some sort of bomb?"

To all their surprise, Genkai started cackling off to the side, "Actually, yes."

"A bomb?" asked Yukina with a tiny gasp of fear.

Yusuke marched up to the small elder who had her eyes trained on her smoky field, "Okay Genkai, you obviously know what's going on, but the rest of us don't! Mind sharing?"

She rolled her eyes, "Just look, you moron."

The smoke was already beginning to clear and two silhouettes were revealed among the gray cloud. They all gasped in realization.

Ren was on all fours on one side, the effects of her most recent barrier that protected her from the blast dissolving away, panting heavily.

Hiei was completely opposite from her, also breathing heavily and looking angry and incredulous with a raised fist.

Between them, a gaping hole separated them.

Gasping, Yukina grabbed onto Kuwabara's sleeve in alarm, "It's Ren and Hiei!"

Yusuke's eyes were wide with disbelief, "What the...She was supposed to go _talk_ to him! Not fight with him! Oh man, she doesn't stand a chance!"

Genkai eyed Yusuke, "Why do you say that?"

Yusuke looked down at her as if she were speaking a different language, "Um, _hello!_ She's gone and picked a fight with _Hiei_ for crying out loud! You obviously don't understand how serious Hiei gets when he fights." Yusuke was about to jump off the porch, but was pulled back in surprise.

"Wait Yusuke," Kurama said, holding onto Yusuke's shoulder, "Maybe it's best if we don't interfere."

Genkai nodded, "Kurama's right. They've obviously been at odds with each for some time now, and I think this how they've chosen to resolve it."

"At odds?" Kuwabara asked, "Seriously? They've seemed just fine to me."

"Well, not seriously speaking, but even if you were thick in the head, like you two, back inside it should've been obvious."

"Okay, I get it, we're stupid." Yusuke rolled his eyes, "So you're going to have to lay it out to me."

"Yusuke, you especially should understand how Hiei works, right?" Kurama asked him.

Not sure what he was getting at, Yusuke scratched his head, "Uh yeah, sure."

"Hiei isn't one prone to words or patience and is definitely not one to admitting he's wrong about something. You, of all people, should know what I'm talking about." Kurama supplied.

"Yeah, so what?" Yusuke said.

"So basically," Genkai said, "Ren realized that the only way to fully resolve whatever's going on with Hiei was to fight with him. It might not have been the smartest thing to do, but she's definitely got guts to do it."

"Okay, great I've already got that they're fighting! Jeez, I don't care about the stupid reason! I was more concerned with keeping Ren from getting beaten to a pulp."

"Come on dimwit, give her a bit more credit than that. She's still standing isn't she?" Genkai grimaced at him.

"I guess so, but-"

"Yusuke, if Hiei really wanted to take her down, she would've been down by now." Kurama stated, making the others turn to him in surprise, "Even as he is, Hiei is no doubt strong enough to easily overpower her if he really wanted to."

"So… he's holding back?" Yusuke gaped at the battling duo, "Ok Kurama, you and I definitely have different definitions of 'holding back.' I mean, he blew a goddamn hole in the ground!"

"What makes you think that was Hiei?" Genkai pestered with irritation.

"You mean… that… was Ren?" Kuwabara's jaw dropped.

"Of course it was," Genkai growled, "You shouldn't underestimate her. Although what Kurama saying may be true, Hiei has obviously been having some difficulty keeping her down."

"Whoa…" Yusuke stared at the hole, "How did she do it? I mean how can someone just go from nothing to _this?_"

"It's not really that complicated. There's really no simpler explanation than knowing that she can create her own bombs at will."

"Is it safe?" Yukina asked with worry.

Genkai couldn't help but chuckle, "Of course it isn't, and she full knows well that it's not, but it looks to me like this attempt went rather well for her. Basically, she creates a barrier and thinking about it logically, you'd realize that in this barrier, gases from the air are stuck inside. Now using her ability and control to manipulate the barrier, she can squeeze it down, creating a compression bomb. Judging by the size of the hole, she must have used a relatively small one."

"But Genkai, are you sure we shouldn't stop them?" Yukina interjected. Although they both seemed okay at just a glance, who knows what else they could do to each other!

Genkai shook her head, "Don't worry, this fight is just about through. I can already see how Ren has worked this out." She grinned and plopped down, "I'd give it another couple of minutes."

The others exchanged skeptical looks, but gave in and turned back to watching.

~.~.~.~.~

Perched on all fours, I panted heavily, waiting for the smoke to clear. Chunks of grass, bits and pieces of plants, and other debris fell around me, but if Hiei was anywhere nearby I couldn't see him.

_He's probably really angry at me for doing something like that...but what if he got caught in the blast?_ The thought hadn't even occurred to me. I shook my head to myself. No, he was fine- I saw him jump away from the bombs just before it hit.

I was so exhausted my arms that were the only things holding me up were rattling with my weight, but I had to hold on just a few moments longer. I wished the smoke would clear faster!

And then it did, revealing Hiei who was a distance away from me. I was relieved that he appeared unhurt, but also pleased that everything was working out as I'd planned. A small smile tugged at my lips.

Hiei started making his way towards me and jumped over the crater I'd created. He was panting lightly, was covered in soot and dirt, and his clothes were slightly singed, but he seemed perfectly fine otherwise.

_Almost there..._

He made it right in front of me and stopped, and we proceeded into a stare down, his hot eyes searching my stubborn ones. To my surprise, he was grinning lightly.

"I will admit that I was caught off guard with that last attack. I'll give you credit for that, but you've reached your limit. We're done."

I smirked and managed to pant, "Oh... really?"

Hiei was baffled, "What?"

I flashed him a tired smile, "Hiei... look down." He did; his eyes widened.

"Wait-"

And I lifted my hands, releasing my very last barrier.

Gravity took effect and everything just sunk down, Hiei included. I watched him disappear in the hole with a victorious smirk. I dragged myself to the edge of the hole, feeling a bubble of laughter beginning to itch its way up my throat, and looked down.

Hiei had landed at the bottom, ten feet below in a significantly larger hole than before. He was glaring furiously at me, but was sitting down with a twitch on his face. With a sigh of release, I flipped over onto my back and sprawled out my arms and legs, still panting heavily, but feeling much more happy and pleased with myself.

"Ha... how'd you like that?" I started laughing out loud, drained but also suddenly giddy.

"Hn!" was the faint, sulky reply I got in return.

"Don't worry, Hiei. I wasn't... really going to make you get on your knees. I think we're even now."

"What the heck just _happened?"_

"Hm?" even though my eyelids felt like lead, I was able to look up to see Yusuke and the other running over towards us. I saw Genkai trailing behind them too and my body froze up. _Oh crap! _I'd just blown up an enormous crater in her ground and she might've even watched me do it- what was I supposed to tell her?

Kurama peered over the edge to look down at the sulking fire demon with a grin, "My, that's quite deep. Will you need help getting out, Hiei?" He received a chunk of dirt aimed at his head in reply, but Kurama only laughed.

"I- I just don't get it!" Yusuke was flailing around in wonder, "For a second he was there, and then you did something, and then that even bigger hole came from nowhere! And he just went in! That was priceless! Now what I'm wondering was how you suddenly made the bigger hole that Hiei fell into."

I grinned, "I... only made... one hole to begin with." I told him between deep breaths.

He looked completely lost, "What?"

"You moron." Genkai finally reached us and I couldn't help but fear for my life. Forget Hiei, this lady had fangs and claws!

"Genkai, I'm so-"

"Nice job, Ren. You performed well."

I stared at her with wide eyes and felt my cheeks bloom in pleasure. I couldn't stifle the giggles that came, "Thanks."

"Wait, so is someone going to explain how she did it?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Yes, I'd like to know too." Yukina said curiously, switching glances between the fuming Hiei and Ren.

"That was quite ingenious, Ren." Kurama laughed, "And Hiei fell right into your trap, never suspecting a thing." Kurama pointed towards the center of the hole, "Remember the hole we saw earlier? When Ren blew up the ground, there should've been a much larger space blown away with that fire power, but we could only see that small portion and, basically, that was only because the rest of it was covered up."

"Covered up?"

"When all the grass and dirt went flying they had to land somewhere- all around where she'd just blown it up, to be precise, but instead of letting it all just fall back in, she produced another barrier- a flat one- that filled up all the space of the opening except the one we saw. Hiei probably didn't notice a thing because he was focused on only the small part that was revealed, unknowingly walking right on top of the rest of it, the pieces of grass hiding most of the fact that he wasn't even walking on real ground anymore."

"Oh!" Yusuke exclaimed, "So when she released the barrier, and there was nothing there to begin with, he just fell in the hole." Yusuke leaned over the edge, laughing.

"Wow Hiei! I never expected you to fall for something as simple as that!" this time when Hiei threw a chunk of debris, it hit its target right on.

"I've got to say, it sure did give me a good laugh," Genkai grinned, "But you boys might as well help him get out of there."

Kurama smiled, "Gladly." and leapt gracefully into the hole. Yukina bent down to help me up although it was pretty painful. Ugh, I was going to be sore in the morning.

"You got bruised up pretty badly, Ren." Yukina remarked, "Here, I can help with getting rid of some of the pain." I immediately began to feel my body relax under Yukina's magical touch.

"Thanks Yukina..." I breathed gently, feeling my eyes finally slide closed, unable to keep them open any longer, just as Kurama climbed out with Hiei.

~.~.~.~.~

"Riku, wait up!" Kuri was half-laughing, half-yelling to the distant figure up ahead, her thick kimono tripping her every so often. Riku paused and smirked slightly, going back to help his princess.

"You're really having some trouble back here, aren't you?" Riku grinned, taking her hand and beginning to guide her up the rocky ledge one step at a time.

Kuri frowned, " It's hard to see where I'm stepping because it's so dark out and I'd like to see you try and climb in this, " she pulled on the complicated robe and Riku shook his head.

"No, I'm good thanks," he chuckled at her, "But don't worry, we're almost there."

"Where are we going anyway?" Kuri asked again, nervously checking behind her back, "What if someone notices we're gone and then tells my mother-"

"You're always worrying Kuri! You can relax. Asami only left a day ago; there's no way she's coming back until at least another day. And you don't have to worry about one of the staff telling on you." Riku winked and Kuri blushed brightly, looking down.

"But if something _did_ happen-"

"I'm willing to take that risk." Riku explained with a shrug, "To be with you."

"You don't understand the risk you're taking," Kuri whispered fearfully, but Riku didn't answer.

"Ah, finally." Riku announced with a smile. Kuri stepped up onto the flat ledge, warily eyeing the black cave that opened like a mouth to darkness. Kuri shot a disbelieving glance at Riku.

"You want us to go in _there?_" Kuri squeaked.

"Yeah," Riku tugged on her hand, "Come on! We need to go in."

Kuri resisted his tugging, "But, but I,"

"Kuri, it's ok," Riku squeezed her hand in reassurance, sending little butterflies into her stomach, "You trust me, right?"

"..." Kuri frowned, but took a deep breath, "Of course."

"Then come on! We only have to walk for a little bit. I won't let go of your hand."

Together, they plunged into the dark mouth. Kuri shut her eyes tight, whimpering and flinching at each little sound and echo.

"Just a bit more, Kuri." Riku comforted her again, "See the light up ahead?"

Kuri peeked through one eye. Truthful to his word, a blue opening straight ahead was approaching quickly. She shuffled closer to Riku, gripping his sleeve.

Riku paused just before they reached it though and Kuri looked at him questioningly. He swept himself to behind her and suddenly her vision went dark when his hands swung up to cover her eyes.

"Ah! Riku-"

"You have to close your eyes! I want you to get the full impact." he said with a laugh.

Now curious and a bit more at ease, Kuri skeptically allowed Riku to guide her the rest of the way out. Through the tiny spaces of Riku's hands, she could tell that they'd fully emerged back into the open.

"Ok, can I see now?" Kuri asked.

Riku hummed as if thinking about it, "Sure, I guess you've been good enough." And he removed his hands.

Kuri let out a light gasp, her eyes shining, "Oh!"

They were standing on a flat edge, but straight ahead and stretching over their heads was the bright, pearly moon and behind it, millions of twinkling stars painted the sky like tiny lights. The sky was so clear and the stars so numerous, it took Kuri's breath away. Never before had she seen anything like it! Even when her mother and her had lived on the mountain, the thick trees had always blocked most of the starlight.

"It's so amazing," Kuri breathed, wandering forwards and slowly spinning around, "It's like I could touch them, it feels so close." She spun again, facing Riku with a brilliant smile (his face erupted into a bright blush), "Riku, it's beautiful!"

Riku chuckled at her excitement as she turned back around to admire the sky. Feeling bold, he moved in behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She squeaked in surprise.

"R-Riku!" she stuttered, but Riku only smiled softly, resting his face against her shoulder, and breathed in her familiar scent, "But not as much as you," he murmured softly. The butterflies already in her stomach tripled and her heart skipped a beat.

"D-don't be such a romantic," she taunted playfully, wiggling out of his grasp.

Riku put up his hands innocently, "But I'm only speaking the truth!"

Kuri laughed out loud and stuck her tongue out at him and then dashed back into the cave. Riku jumped in surprise.

"H-hey wait! You shouldn't leave without me!" he cried out and ran back after her.

But just as Riku vanished, the sky darkened and the stars winked out, one by one. The white moon eclipsed to a blood red.

Shrieks and cries of fear and pain echoed throughout the mountain side and the air suddenly became putrid with decay and smoke. Children screamed. Fires burned. Fear and death was everywhere.

Mangled and burned corpses littered the streets. I could barely breathe the thick air. Terror overflowed inside of me as I stumbled forward, trying to escape the burning village.

I didn't stop running, even though I suddenly found myself running through the castle walls, which were also burning. There was an open room ahead and I could see two sleeping figures.

I stumbled into the room. I needed to wake them up and let them know that everything was burning down! But as I fell to my knees to shake the figures awake, their heads just lolled around and I gasped in terror, dropping them. The empty, cold eyes of Keiko and Yusuke stared back up at me.

Wheezing, I shot backwards, landing into something stiff. I turned around and choked back a scream. Kuwabara and Yukina were slumped over in a pool of blood.

"_This can't be happening!" _I screeched, but everywhere I began to look, more and more corpses appeared. Kurama and Botan, Mako and Koenma, kids from school. I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.

Then I opened my eyes and all of them were gone, except one body in the middle of the room. Shakily, I crawled over.

_It's Riku..._

I reached out with a trembling hand. _It can't be..._

I turned the body over and the dark despair and terror already churning within overwhelmed me. It wasn't Riku anymore, it was-

~.~.~.~.~

I shot straight up. I had to check my surroundings a couple of times to make sure that I was back at the Shrine, that I was lone, and that I was awake.

I wheezed, tears streaming down my cheeks, and I buried my face in my hands, groaning.

_That- that nightmare..._ I was trembling like crazy. I hadn't had a dream like that since we'd arrived here. I tried to calm down, but the pictures of the dead bodies of my friends littering the ground couldn't be shaken from my mind.

The screen door flew open and I jumped, still dazed from the dream. Hiei stood there, breathing hard as if he'd just finished sprinting.

"Hiei," I whispered shakily, the tears still flowing, "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you..."

"I felt your fear..." he crouched down beside me, noting my trembling form and shallow breaths. I secretly thanked Kami that he didn't seem to be mad at me from earlier. Instead, he came rushing to help. It almost made me feel better.

"It was... another nightmare." I choked out.

Hiei's eyes narrowed, "Another one? You said you stopped having them."

"I thought I did." I said, "This was the first one in weeks and it was just... terrible."

He didn't say anything for a while, "What happened?"

I shook my head. I didn't want to relive it. A clicking of wood on wood rattled through the quiet hall. Hiei and I looked up just in time to see Yukina stop at the doorway.

"Ren! Oh-h... there you are Hiei! I was looking for you." Yukina said.

Hiei stood up, "What's wrong?"

"Botan and Koenma have just arrived and they're asking for everyone to come out."

_Botan and Koenma?_ I thought with surprise.

"When did they get here?" Hiei asked.

"As far as I know, just right now." Yukina told him nervously.

"Do you know what's going on?" I asked, subtly wiping my eyes and pulling myself to look a bit more presentable. Since they couldn't wait till morning, it had to be dire.

"I don't know."

The timing was too right. The ominous dream, the urgent summons from Koenma...

As Hiei and I followed Yukina down the hall, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen and that the illusion of safety and good times here at the shrine were all about to dwindle away.

* * *

><p>Guys... I'm just sorry ._. That dream and that ending... that was just kaput ._. But I needed to end the chapter somehow and this is what I ended up doing! I hope you guys liked most of it though :) Sorry again it's been so long since I've updated but now that I'm fitting better into the groove of things, maybe (hopefully) I'll be better! :D<p>

Yeah, I'll probably go back after this is all done to edit that last bit xD

Please review! :D Thanks for reading and have a wondeful day~!

**Juliedoo: **I know right? XD Thanks for the review! I was actually worried about Genkai's character because I was afraid I did a terrible job, so that makes me feel a lot better! Thank you~!

**Kagome141414: **I wish I could hear it too T-T Bahaha! Of course! Ren would be thinking something dirty! Oh, Ren, what are we going to do with her... xD

**dragoscilvio: **I gratefully accept your forgiveness c: Thanks for the comment about Genkai! I was really worried I was messing her character up :) And sure, I'd love to check out your story! I'll do it right after I update this one! :D Thank you for reviewing!

**Guest: **Oh Ren, Y U so Blind?! Lol, that's interesting how you say that xD I really loved your review! Haha, it's not like they were kissing on purpose XD ! (unfortunately...) Do you write yourself? If you do, then you might know what I'm talking about when I say that instead of the author writing the story, the story is already there, it's just up to the author to guide it through! Like, even if I wanted them to just confess and be lovey-dovey, it just totally goes against the natural flow xD *Shakes fist!* curses! But I'm super excited to keep writing up to those chapters... ehehehe.. :3

**Heve-chan: **Thanks for the Genkai comment! I was scared I was messing her up :/ And yes, I believe you do! It's always a challenge for me to write from his POV because he's such a deep character, but I'll try my best! Actually, I think there's more Hiei POV in the next chapter! Look forward to more development! ;D

**DemonMiko Jenna: **I'm so glad I have the ability to make your day! :D Haha! Oh you know her other something huh? :D And I figured that Yusuke is completely different from her so Genkai would just naturally treat her a different way, like how she treats Yukina compared to Kuwabara or someone else! xD And yes, Hiei's the dense one to think that Yukina wouldn't notice one day! :) Thanks for the cookie! xD I hope you like this chapter c:

**Tay: **Of course! Hm, you'll have to continue to stick around and find out! ;D Sorry it took so long to update though! So, any ideas for a one-shot you might want? :D

**FireStorm1991: **Haha thanks, and yup that's just good ol' Hiei! But yeah it makes me giggly too :3 Teehee! It's what makes him so lovable! xD

**Nightbloodwolf: **AHHHHH I'M SO HAPPY! I'm super glad you're loving it! I wish you could write more because I love long reviews, but each review no matter how big or small always means the world to me anyways! :) Did you like this chapter? :D I hope so o.o sorry for the long wait T-T

**Devious Cherub: **Whoa o.o I feel... honored! I hope you didn't miss anything important! xD Thanks for the R & R! I hope you liked this chapter!

**Kshepps27: **yeah, it seems hard to believe because when I look at all I still have planned it doesn't seem to fit in just another half xD And did you read what I put at the top of this page? :D Sorry, no sequel, but there'll be oneshots! So I hope you look forward to those once this story ends :) And weekends are amazing ;A;

**Vongola Thirteen: **THANK YOU! I'm sorry it wasn't quick at all! ;A; ;A;

**Just 2 Dream of You: **Haha! Sorry I haven't mentioned you xD I just always pull up my review list and then read down the list, but no fear you will be on it! Like so :D Yay new tablet! Thank you for staying ;A; I know I haven't updated in a while! And thank you for your review, they always make feel like I'm doing something right with this story! :D

**sailorangelmoon1: **Hahaha~! Was that the kind of fight you were expecting? ;D And lol here's a hint! It's not something that she physically has c:

**stacikate16: **Wow! I'm so happy that you have graced this chapter with a second read! XD Thank you! I'm so honored :'D

**RayneRodgers20: **Haha! I'm so glad you got into it :D That means I'm doing my job c: lol, and you should pull it out! That's what I did with this one, and I'm in love with it (writing it that is)! :3


	16. Not So Nice to Meet You

I want Thanksgiving break ;A; Just a couple more weeks away!

But not to worry! I won't bore you guys with a long and meaningless excuse this time! xD

p.s. I'm sorry ahead of time for errors! I've been typing on a friggin iPad and there's no way to check through it easily without spending even more time on it -_-

We can just get on with it! :D Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 16: Not So Nice To Meet You

Wrapping my arms around myself to trap the warmth in, I followed Hiei and Yukina anxiously outside. _What could possibly be going on to have them call on us in the middle of the night?_

We emerged onto the deck and immediately noticed everyone else gathered around two figures, the gaping hole from this afternoon still wide and open, pieces of grass and dirt scattered across the field. Even Puu was out in the open. I shivered in the cold, the feeling of dread that'd been left from my nightmare still churning ominously in the pit of my stomach. I pressed closer to Hiei.

"What's going on?" I whispered nervously, but with another look, I could tell that he was just as much in the dark as I was.

"I'm not sure. Let's go," he said. I nodded and the three of us hopped down to join the rest of them.

Puu cawed and ruffled his feathers when he noticed us and stuck out his head to greet us, catching everyone's attention. I gently placed a hand on his head making him coo in pleasure, and with my free hand gripped the front of my shirt.

"Botan, Koenma!" I acknowledged the two in the center of the small gathering.

Botan bounced past Kurama and Kuwabara to wrap Yukina in a hug and then me, "Sorry it's been so long! Kurama and the others just told me about what happened earlier." she gestured to my large pit, "What I would loved to have seen it! It's always important to keep the boys in check every once in a while, huh?" she winked sassily.

"What's going on?" I asked. She frowned for a second.

"I don't know. Koenma hasn't actually told me anything yet, just that we needed to get here as soon as possible. He seemed so stressed, I didn't ask."

He did seem stressed. As happy as Botan seemed to be to see us, Koenma's face was pale and taut as if he hadn't slept for the past few days. Did the ruler of the Spirit World need sleep in the first place? Something told me now wasn't exactly an appropriate time to ask though.

"It's about time you guys showed up," Koenma huffed with crossed arms. Having woken up in the middle of the night after a nightmare and then randomly called to come out didn't make my tolerance level really high. I grimaced at him, but Yukina slightly flushed.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't find Hiei at first, so it took me a while." she apologized kindly.

Several sets of burning eyes slid over to Koenma, two burning more than the rest (ahem, Hiei and Kuwabara), who stuttered and waved his hands, "Wait, no - you don't have to apologize! That's not what I meant." he faltered and just shook his head, "Er, we don't have time for this. "

Yusuke crossed his arms, "Alright already. Now that we're all here, will you just spit it out? I'd like to get back to sleep!"

"There are more important things than sleeping right now Yusuke and I was getting to that," Koenma snapped back. As he spoke, his gaze kept flicking nervously over to me. At first, I thought I might just be imagining it, but he wouldn't stop. In turn, it was making me even _more _nervous. Why did he keep looking at me like that? _Why was he here right now?_

Genkai sighed, "Get on with it Koenma. What's going on?"

Koenma sighed, "Right," but then he fell silent, closing his eyes, and didn't say anything for a few moments. Now we were growing impatient. I could feel Hiei tensing up beside me in frustration. I clutched onto Puu shakily.

Finally, he looked back up, but when he opened his eyes, he looked straight at me. I froze. He started slowly.

"I... I think I've found a lead."

Before he could continue, Yusuke suddenly laughed and held up his fist proudly, "Hey, isn't that a good thing? What was with all the suspense there?" But everyone knew better; the dark expression on his face hadn't wavered at all.

"You didn't even let me finish Yusuke," he said brashly, "I've been looking for information for the past month to see if there could be any clues about who Asami is and I think I may have stumbled across something _big_. But," he paused.

"Enough with the stalling! Are you going to say it or not?" Kuwabara said.

"...For one thing, we'll need to travel over to the Makai."

"What?" It was like a switch had just been pulled. The atmosphere seemed to get darker as soon as the word _Makai_ had left his lips. Things had gotten a lot more serious all of the sudden.

"The ... Makai?" I muttered quietly, "As in the _demon _world?"

Koenma nodded grimly, "Yes, I'm afraid it's exactly that."

Kurama had been quiet the entire time until now, "Perhaps it may not be so bad if it's only going there. Yusuke, maybe Kuwabara, and I could accompany you at the very least. "

"But that's not it," Koenma said. What else could there be?

"Ren must come with us when we go."

The statement was simple enough for me to understand, but for some reason it didn't seem to be processing through my head correctly. Koenma needed me to go the..._demon_ world. Where the world was full of demons. If I could claim to know anything about demons at this point, just imagining a world full of them made me shudder and lock up. I didn't even have to say anything at first because the others were kind enough to answer for me.

"Are you _insane_?" Hiei snarled menacingly, the first to react.

Well, maybe I wouldn't have put it like that, though I might be thinking it.

"Koenma, what could you be thinking?" Botan cried, holding my shoulders although she should've been more concerned with my lower half. My legs were beginning to feel like jelly.

Koenma's face looked even more haggard, "Just hear me out for a second-"

"Even I know where to draw the line!" Yusuke yelled, "That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"Yeah," Kuwabara joined in, "And that's coming from a stupid guy!"

"Shut up Kuwabara! You're stupid too!"

"I don't know what could possibly be going on that would require her to go there; I would seriously question that Koenma," Genkai said seriously.

"Even you too Genkai?" Koenma frowned, "What about you Kurama?"

Kurama said, "I must agree with Genkai on this one. Not including the ordinary sense of danger that comes from being in the Makai, you add the fact that she's human and you're looking at it being much worse. After the barrier came down, you'd restricted the interaction between demons and humans, but by taking Ren there, you risk the possibility of creating a frenzy. Most demons have never been known to follow the rules- they find law in chaos and that alone."

Crestfallen, Koenma looked at them all helplessly but despite their protests, he continued to persist, "I know that, but hear me out! It's absolutely imperative that she comes! And it's not like we'd be letting her out of sight for even a second." He looked at me straight in the eye then and I could practically feel the alarm in his eyes.

"Please Ren, there's something we need to find out and this might be the only way. It's the only lead we have." Koenma pleaded. Hiei didn't waste a beat and stepped directly in front of me, blocking me from Koenma.

"There's no way in hell that I'd let-" Hiei began, but didn't get a chance to finish.

"I-I'll go."

They all deadpanned. The peaking intensity in the air was suffocating me.

"What?" I said defensively, hiding my shaking hands in Puu's hair, "Don't I get a say in this? After all, it's me we're talking about. I said I'd go."

"Don't be stupid Ren," Hiei growled at me, "You might be stronger than before, but you're no match for what's out there. That's a fact."

"Maybe I'm not as strong as a demon, but I could at least defend-"

"No, you can't!" Hiei cut me off sharply, glaring into my eyes. Pursing my lips, I felt myself becoming angry and I glared right back.

"Didn't you just hear him, Hiei? This is our only lead! The opportunity to move forward is right in front of us, and if by going to the Makai could make a difference and save some people that she would otherwise hurt in the future, then of course I'd go. I need to!" I yelled. I didn't say it out loud, but an image of Mako, barely breathing and unconscious, under the pile of rubble back in the burning room flashed through my head.

Hiei grit his teeth, but he must have seen something in my eyes because suddenly he wasn't protesting anymore. He only looked down to avoid my gaze and clenched his fist tightly as if in an internal war with himself.

Yukina touched my arm earnestly, "Ren, are you sure? The Makai is extremely dangerous and since you're human, some demons might come after you."

"Why would they do that? It's not like I would be trying to pick any fights," I said meekly, trying to not squeak as I spoke. Suddenly, Botan and Yusuke were in my face, wiggling their fingers, shadows covering most of their faces.

"It'd more dangerous than you know," Botan moaned.

"Think you've seen a demon? You haven't seen anything yet," Yusuke joined her.

"There are demons as large as buildings that could destroy whole cities!"

"Demons don't have morals- they wouldn't blink to slaughter."

"Imagine your worst nightmare- the demon world is a hundred times worse!"

"I could tell you some stories that would really make your skin crawl."

"I bet you'd make a tasty snack!"

"And when they're done with you-"

"You won't be anything but a toothpick for them."

Before I could waste away to nothing but a pile of uselessness, Hiei pushed Botan and Yusuke away with a growl.

"That's enough!" he yelled angrily, and turned to look at me, a touch of concern flickering in his eyes. I was as white as a sheet and my heart pounded.

"It-it's not seriously like that, right?" my voice cracked despite myself and I gripped his sleeve with trembling fingers.

He was silent for a moment, then sighed in frustration, "You don't have to think about any of that. There's no way we'd let anything happen."

Koenma who still looked pretty stressed, started to object, "We? Actually, Hiei, I'm not sure that it'd be a good idea for you to come with us since you're in this state and all-" he was instantly silenced with a fiery glare. I was afraid Koenma might combust on the spot.

"You'd even be more of a fool if you though for one second that I wasn't going with you." Even without powers, I could easily imagine a strong surge of fire surrounding Hiei's body with an intimidating blaze. As much as I was afraid, with Koenma being at fault for it all, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. No one wanted to be at the end of Hiei's fuse.

Genkai sighed gruffly, "I see your minds are made up then. There's no stopping you then,"

I grimaced, "I guess not." I almost wished there was- I was a mess of contradictions. I was terrified of what was awaiting us in the near future, but I was determined to do whatever was possible that I could do. I shivered in trepidation.

"It's settled then," Koenma said suddenly, "Are you ready?"

I jolted in surprise. We were literally leaving right now? It was all happening too fast!

"I guess since Hiei's coming with us, you get to stay here, huh Kuwabara. Too bad," Yusuke clapped Kuwabara on the back. Kuwabara pushed him lightly away.

"As if! There's no way I'm ever going back to that place, and I wouldn't have just left my sweet Yukina here all by herself!" Kuwabara cried, prancing behind Yukina who only smiled sweetly, clearly still oblivious to what was being implied. Genkai rolled her eyes.

"I still think this isn't the smartest decision, but I can only stand to the side and hope you don't screw up." She grinned smugly to herself, "Yusuke, make sure you pull your head out of your ass long enough to keep an eye on her, at least for a little while."

While Yusuke began an insulting match with Genkai and Koenma began busying himself with opening a viable 'access point,' I stood to the side with Hiei, Botan, and Kurama. I leaned against Puu tiredly.

"What am I getting myself into?" I muttered quietly.

"Having doubts?" Kurama asked much to my chagrin.

"...I never said I didn't have any. I'm really scared." I told him honestly. "But I think this is the right thing to do."

Kurama leaned back, smiling softly, "Your courage is admirable. I can't be certain about what's going to happen on the other side, but there is one thing I can assure."

"What's that?" I asked.

"We'll do everything in our power to keep you safe. Isn't that right, Hiei?" He turned to Hiei with that small, knowing smile. Hiei jolted slightly, but looked away with a "Hn." I smiled; it did make me feel better.

"Oh Ren, promise me you'll be safe as possible. Make sure to not go anywhere without Kurama, Yusuke, or Hiei. If you find yourself with Koenma, make sure you find one of the others immediately!" Botan clutched me in her arms. I never really understood why she was so clingy with me, but I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Aren't you being a litter harsh? And do you really think it's a good idea to be saying that stuff right in front of your boss?"

Botan put her hands on her hips with a smile, "Ah, not to worry. He knows it's true!" I couldn't help but feel even more sorry for him, I thought with a sigh and a smile.

"Ahem." Koenma had his arms crossed, looking a bit irritated and was poised right beside Botan and I. We both stumbled back in surprise.

"Oh Koenma! We didn't see you there!" Botan laughed and he only shot her another glare.

"Anyways," Koenma pointed to his side and I looked and gaped in awe.

A dazzling, enormous blue orb- one that towered over even Puu- buzzed silently with energy.

"I've opened the point, but it won't last so we should get going. We won't be there for too long, but I wouldn't want for a random demon to accidentally stumble upon this point while we're gone."

Yusuke came towards us and stroked Puu's beak, "Ready to go Puu?"

"Puu's coming?" I asked in surprise. He grinned.

"Well we could always walk! But," he drawled with a chuckle, "I'm not sure that you would be able to keep up."

"Hm." I pouted and went to join Hiei by the blue orb.

"So beyond this is the Makai?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah." he replied and glanced down at me, his eyes churning with thoughts that I couldn't discern, "You're sure about this? Once we go in, there's no going back until we're finished."

I gulped, but nodded. When he said it like that, it really put things into perspective. What exactly would we be doing? Koenma had said that we wouldn't be gone long, but what did that mean? Would demons try to _eat_ me? Worry and apprehension began to crush me again. I was scared. I was so scared-

A warm weight touched my head and my eyes snapped open, never realizing that I'd been squeezing them shut to begin with. I looked up in surprise. Hiei was looking at me carefully and I was shocked into silence. His face was calm, but serious; almost gentle, like in his sleep.

"You don't have to be afraid. I'll protect you." The blue of the orb illuminated Hiei's face and specifically seemed to glow with his eyes. I couldn't move or breathe, completely transfixed on his face.

"Hi-"

"Hey, don't forget us too! We'll make sure nothing gets ya'!" Yusuke suddenly came from nowhere and slung his arms around the two of us. My heart almost burst from my chest and I yelped in surprise. Hiei began to cough and looked the other way. Yusuke raised a brow in confusion.

"Uh... I feel like I missed something." he observed.

"Yusuke, you idiot!" Botan roared and smacked him square on the head with her oar.

"OW! Botan! What was that for?" Yusuke demanded angrily, removing his arms.

"For being a dense _idiot_." She smacked her face lightly and groaned.

"Right..." Yusuke drawled and turned back to us. My heart was still hammering, but not from Yusuke's surprise entrance. It felt like steam could be coming from my ears. It didn't feel really chilly anymore.

Kurama was chuckling lightly as he came to join us, "We really should get going now."

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke slung an arm around Hiei again, but this time looped his other around Kurama, "Gives you a bit of deja vu, huh guys?" he laughed cheekily.

I didn't really understand, but Kurama smiled and said, "I suppose it does." Even Hiei was smirking a little, but only hn'd

"Ah, memories~!" Yusuke sighed.

Koenma stepped close enough to the orb till he was touching the surface. It crackled with power, but it didn't hurt him, "Alright, enough stalling. We need to go."

Yusuke waved him off and called Puu over. Puu flapped over, creating a surprisingly strong wind that blew my hair back. I had to brace myself so I wouldn't lose my balance. When he landed, Yusuke and Kurama easily leapt off the ground and onto his wide back. Frowning at how high of a climb it would be, I began to steel myself to make the climb, but squawked when suddenly I was grabbed from behind and pulled up. Hiei set me down gently, but I slid flat on my face and had to spit out a few feathers.

"A little warning would have been nice..." I muttered, but Hiei just smirked.

"Be safe you four!" Botan and Yukina waved at us and I couldn't help but wish that at least one of them could have come with us, but I knew that it would be dangerous enough as it was.

"Don't be gone long this time." Kuwabara grinned and Genkai just watched as Koenma joined us on Puu's back.

Koenma crouched down, "Ren, I would recommend holding on to something."

Surprised, I scrambled around before fisting my hands into some of Puu's blue mane.

"Alright Puu, let's go." Yusuke cried and I gasped as Puu cawed loudly and stretched out his wings to their full length. Without another moment to prepare, he dived headfirst into the blue light.

~.~.~.~.~

My eyes were squeezed shut. I didn't know what to expect and my body was extremely tense and rigid, but after nothing seemed to happen, I risked peeking through a crack, but as soon as I caught sight of the red sky, both eyes snapped wide open.

"What the...!" I gasped out loud, immediately slinging my arms around Puu's thick neck with a squeal. I could touch the clouds from here! We must been as high as an airplane could be. I risked looking past Puu's mane and immediately wished I hadn't, suddenly discovering a strong fear of heights. I could see strange forests twisting and turning throughout a red land, barren stretches of rock rolling on for miles. High, strangely formed plateaus with skinny bases and broad surfaces were layered differently and scattered across the ground. Small, purplish lakes glistened in the sun although it was supposed to be night.

A light touch on my shoulder almost sent me over the edge and if it hadn't been for Hiei's strong grip on my arm, I just might've.

"Gya!" I scooted backwards until I hit Hiei, pushing him back. Gasping lightly, I had to move him out of the way so I could reach the center of Puu's back. Luckily, it was wide enough for me to feel like I wouldn't just roll off if I moved one way or the other.

"Are you alright?"

I glanced up to see Kurama peering into my face. I gave him a tiny, pitiful smile.

"Just a little afraid of heights, that's all." I forced a couple of laughs.

I felt Hiei plop down next to me and turned my head to see him smirking at me, "Then maybe you should've mentioned that before you got on the bird."

"I've never been this high before. How was I supposed to know?" I shot back, shakily picking myself up, but with another flap of Puu's wings I panicked and latched myself onto Hiei's arm to steady myself. I could see from the corner of my eye as Yusuke walked around to crouch beside me.

"How can you just walk around like that?" I asked weakly and he chuckled.

"Dunno. I never really thought about it. I guess after dealing with much scarier things than heights, it just couldn't compare anymore." He laughed out loud and Koenma rolled his eyes.

Koenma was sitting towards Puu's back, his eyes closed as if in concentration, "You should settle down Yusuke, you're making me nervous."

"Hm," Yusuke ignored him and leaned against the slight rise in Puu's neck as he flew.

"So this is the demon world..." still clutching onto Hiei's arm, more for security for me than necessary, I glanced at the passing landscape again. As long as I didn't look directly down, but at an angle instead, it didn't feel like we were really high.

"Home sweet home," muttered Hiei though he was smirking slightly.

I blinked at him like an owl. _Hiei's... home?_ I'd never thought about it before. This was where Hiei was born...? In this world of demons, in the Makai... For some reason, I just couldn't wrap my mind around it.

I crawled a bit back, still sprawled on my stomach, "You lived here?"

Hiei smirked, "Shouldn't that be obvious. I'm a demon. Kurama originally lived here as well."

"However, it's no longer home. That life is behind me now. I couldn't possibly imagine living without my mother back in the human world." Kurama smiled leisurely with a light chuckle.

Hiei turned away, "Hn."

I'll admit that I was itching to ask what happened, but decided that it might be a sensitive area since they didn't expand on the subject but it did get me wondering as I lay there. From what Yusuke had told me way back when, he wasn't all demon so for as far as I knew he'd always lived in the human world. Kurama had used to live in this world, but moved to the human world. How or why he'd do that, I have no idea, but maybe I'd learn someday. On the other hand though, Hiei had lived in this world, but that was as far as I knew. He'd called it home. Did he still live here then? Then what was he doing in the human world?

All the questions running in my head really illuminated the fact that I still knew so little about any of them, especially Hiei since he was obviously the most closed off about them. I frowned, placing my cheek on Puu's warm, soft back. It felt like I would never really get anywhere with him. It seemed like when I would find something out about him, there was always another secret laying in wait. I let out a sigh which unintentionally became a yawn which didn't go unnoticed by Hiei.

"If you're still tired, you might as well go back to sleep. We'll be up here for at least a couple more hours. I can tell you're still exhausted."

"Oh, what?" I was already letting myself go and struggled to keep my eyes open, beginning to feel worried again. "But I-"

"Don't worry, we're not in any danger while we're in the air and we'll be sure to wake you when we land. It'd be best to sleep now, just in case you can't later." Kurama comforted me. I glanced nervously towards the edge of Puu's back.

"Hiei will take care that you don't fall off either," he added with a chuckle. Hiei hn'd.

I frowned, but let my eyes close anyways.

~.~.~.~.~

As soon as Ren's breathing evened out, all light pretenses were dropped and they all became solemn.

"So what's on the itinerary?" Yusuke asked. They'd all been so concerned with the 'going' to the Makai that they hadn't even asked about _where_ they were going.

Koenma thought over it, "First thing's first: we need to go see Mukuro."

Hiei visibly perked, "Mukuro? What for?"

Koenma sighed, "I just need to ask her a couple of things, though I'm not sure how much good that'd do us. Then I wanted to see if she would be willing to accompany us afterwards."

"Hn. She has much better things to do than becoming involved with human affairs, Koenma." Hiei smirked, reminiscing over the times he'd spent causing chaos with her. Mukuro was a being that practically radiated the demand for respect and because of it, nothing but respect was ever given. But with respect for Mukuro came the respect of her laws and her person; Hiei was quite familiar with this idea. He'd spent quite a bit of personal time with her, and he could only imagine her reaction when they arrived.

"This goes beyond human affairs Hiei." Koenma muttered grimly, much to Hiei's confusion.

"Koenma, what exactly are we dealing with? What lead could you possibly have discovered?" Kurama asked.

Koenma shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I'd rather not say anything till I know for sure. Once I know, we'll go from there."

Yusuke groaned, "Then how the hell can we help if you just keep us in the dark?"

Koenma shot him a glare, "For now, you're just going to have to trust me... and hope it's not what I think it is."

They all fell silent, nothing else needing to be said.

Hiei felt a spike in his conscience and suppressed a grimace. Looking over at Ren's sleeping face, it was only him who knew what was going through her mind at that instant. He'd learned to recognize the particular spike. She was having another vivid dream... fortunately, it didn't seem to be another nightmare though.

Moving quietly, he pulled himself closer to her and stretched out one of his legs while pulling a knee to his chest to rest his arm on it.

"There's still something I don't understand." Hiei said.

"What?" Koenma looked at him carefully, but Hiei's face was turned away from him.

"What was the purpose of bringing her here?"

Koenma frowned, biting his lip, "Okay. I'll tell you this for now... if I'm right, then Ren herself needs to check that."

Although frustrated that Koenma wasn't telling them anymore than that, Hiei went silent, left to his thoughts and to look over the landscape thousands of feet below them. _Home_... Of course, he couldn't help but feel secretly pleased to be in the Makai again, but he could definitely recognize the change of how the Makai felt due to his condition. As he'd made himself so many times before since it started, Hiei grew increasingly irritated, but now even a bit ashamed. He grimaced when he thought of the look Mukuro would give him when she found out what happened. That'd give her a good laugh. Thinking about it just made him feel more irritable.

He didn't particularly enjoy feeling like this. If anything, he should've been feeling better. After all, it wasn't as if it wasn't well know to himself and other people that he detested the human world. Humans were weak, fragile creatures that lived trivial lives. They were loud, brash, disruptive, and simply unnecessary. That would have to be his only complain for the demon world- not having to be on border duty and dealing with some of the stupid humans that accidentally crossed over was really nice.

But of course, exceptions existed, however only few. There _were _some places that Hiei would list as first picks when he desired peace. Peace didn't exist in the Makai, but once he would find the right forest or tree back in the human realm, he could be perfectly content as long as he wasn't disturbed. If it meant never being bothered again, he'd gladly stay in Genkai's forest, but he knew that as long as he remained there, Koenma would just continue to find ways to manipulate him, which was unacceptable.

He couldn't deny the handful of humans he found tolerable also though. Yusuke didn't really count anymore, but he'd gained Hiei's respect over time regardless. Keiko, although barely earning any attention from Hiei, was esteemed for the only fact of her iron grip over Yusuke, which he found ridiculous although irritating at the same time. The psychic Genkai, he also respected for her former power and handling of others. Kuwabara barely made his list, but he had to admit that his presence had come to be valuable at least a time or two, if not for anything but comical relief. And then there was... Hiei's thoughts trailed off as he peered down at his sleeping companion.

Mumbling a set of incoherent words, Ren rolled on her side, pulling her arms in closer. Hiei didn't miss her shivering. Being so high up had created a chilling breeze. Without hesitation, he stripped off his coat to lay it over her small figure and was pleased when she stopped shivering as much.

Suddenly, he jumped in surprise when he suddenly felt the cold palm of her hand lash out to clutch the top of his. Startled, he was about to rip it from her grasp, but she only continued to breathe softly, her eyelashes barely fluttering. She was still asleep. Relaxing and feeling the warmth of their connection warm her hand, Hiei dismissed the grip, only tucking their hands under his robe.

Every so gently, he pried her fingers loose so he could readjust his hand from the tight grip, but her fingers relaxed when they trailed along his palm.

With one more look at her sleeping face, he turned to look across the blood red horizon, watching the quiet scenery pass by.

~.~.~.~.~

Nothing stirred, no sound could be heard except the rippling flow of a small river sliding over rocks.

The temple was bathed in the golden red of the sunset. The moment in time had seemed to stop altogether.

The slim silhouette of a bridge stretched over the small stream, still and unmoving. Two figures, outlined by the sinking light, were frozen in the middle.

They didn't move, were just standing in the center. Maybe they wished that time didn't move forward, for the moment to never end, as one was being embraced in the other's arms.

There they stood without say anything. Even the tears that slid down her cheeks were silent.

~.~.~.~.~

When my eyes opened, it was like I hadn't opened them at all. It was just as dark closed as it was when I opened them. Blinking rapidly to get the silver spots away, I waited anxiously for something to change or hint that I actually had my eyes open. Gradually, I could begin to make out shapes as my vision adjusted to the dim room. At least, I think I was in a room.

Eventually, my vision cleared up completely and I was relieved to be able to see, but confusion quickly took its place. I _was_ in some kind of room. If you could even call it that. It was an enclosed space, with purple, lumpy-like walls that arched up in a strange curve. I shuddered, finding it slightly disturbing, but that wasn't even the start of it. As I looked around, my eyes almost popped out of my head.

I couldn't even be certain of what I was seeing. There were two chairs and a small coffee table that had more resemblance to hairy spiders than actual pieces of furniture, with their fuzzy, tough appearing skin and sets of red stones that looked like eyes. Feeling extremely crept out, I shifted backwards only to squeak when something sharp poked me in the back.

I turned around slowly and found myself face to face with some kind of horns that were protruding from the wall.

"GYA!" I shot backwards and promptly flew off the bed (which is what I think it was supposed to be), although it looked more like a trap of doom with a headboard of spikes lining the edges. Heart pounding, I remained on the floor for a couple of moments to try and calm down.

_Where the heck am I?_ I slowly got to my feet, still eyeing the room anxiously, even shooting a glare at the 'bed.' I almost screamed when a large eyeball opened on the center and promptly glared back at me.

Flying around, I gulped and stood rock still. _Ok, ok... calm down. It'll be ok. So you've woken up in a very strange, beyond creepy room- no big deal. What should I expect of furniture from the demon world! There has to be a simple explanation to this, something I must've missed while I was sleeping. Of course! Jeez, Hiei's definitely going to have some hell to pay for-_

I blinked and took another look around the room. Hm. Just as before: empty.

Totally and completely empty.

_..._

"WHERE THE HECK IS EVERYONE?"

~.~.~.~.~

Moving as slow as possible, I cracked the door open inch by inch, trying to get as much of a visual as possible.

_I'm going to kill them all when I find them_, I thought evilly as I checked left and right. From where I stood, it looked like the room led into some kind of tunnel, being that I could see no windows or other doors. Unless the strange patches of discolorations along the wall _were_ the doors. I grimaced. _IF I ever found them_, I corrected myself.

The hollow echo of footsteps suddenly resounded in the silent hall and I eek'd in fear. As soon as I noticed the green skin of the approaching demon, I'd already slammed the door behind me, bracing myself against the surface, my heart trying to leap from my chest.

_Ok… guess I'm not leaving the room anytime soon_.

I wandered back to the bed, like a ghost, and collapsed face forward like a limp doll, groaning and burrowing my face into the sheets. I barely raised my head, only to see the enormous eyeball still looking at me.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" I growled irritably and it widened, as if surprised, and its singe pupil rolled around then, much to my relief, slid closed. With a burst of restlessness, I dived forward and tangled myself in the covers, burrowing myself like a rabbit.

_It'll be ok! There's no way they'd just abandon me here… I just have to wait for someone to come and check on me! Yeah, I can hang on for a bit longer by myself._

The seconds ticked by.

Then minutes.

…

…_Have I seriously been laying here for an entire hour?!_ _And no one's come to check on me yet? _

Maybe it hadn't been an hour, or even half of one, but waiting alone in silence made every moment feel much, much longer than it actually was. I couldn't just sit here anymore!

Taking a deep breath, I threw off the covers and tumbled out of the bed ungracefully, but quickly tripped over to the door. I gripped the handle, steeling my nerves. I gulped deeply.

"Ok," I muttered quietly, "I'll make a run for it. I'm smart! I can do this!" I encouraged myself, pushing back all other thoughts. Kami, I felt so stupid.

I sighed once more. There was no way I could wait anymore so I might as well just take the plunge. I took a moment to concentrate; feeling my energy creeping down my arms and throughout my body, settling at the tips of my fingers and rolling around beneath the surface of my skin gave me comfort in knowing that I wasn't going out there with no chance of protecting myself.

The door clicked open softly and I peered out the room for the second time. The green monster was no longer in sight and after waiting several heartbeats nothing emerged. Feeling bolder, I swung the door open all the way and carefully stepped out into the open.

I bit my lip anxiously. Now where? I glanced to my right then to the left. Well, earlier the green monster had been coming from the right… guess that left, well, left. Choosing my path, I began to jog forward, shooting frequent glances around. No one in sight so far.

Then the chatter started and the blood drained from my face and I froze in place, immediately spinning around.

_Right it is!_

There was no way I was going to keep going and risk running into whoever or whatever was coming. I sprinted for my room, but with a growing horror, realized that I couldn't recognize which door I'd come from!

I had no choice but to keep going. I felt so exposed and in danger out in the open! I needed to find cover quickly before another passerby saw me. Deaf to everything, but my pounding heartbeat, I ran and continued to run until I spotted the end of the hallway that just seemed to lead into a different space.

_What is this place?_ I thought as I crossed over. The purple walls faded away to normal looking walls and even the floor became white tile. On my right, a glass wall stretched along the side and I couldn't help but pause to look out.

If I hadn't been sure of where I was with the setting and the brief glimpse of the demon, I could reassure myself now that I was still in the demon world. The sky was crimson and I was able to see the sun slowing sinking beyond the enormous plateaus and treetops. _It's only sunset?_ I wondered vaguely.

"Ssssay! Do you sssmell that?"

"Yeah… I knew there was a different kind of stink in the air."

I stiffened and mechanically turned around. I could see a pair of shadows accompanied by the slapping of feet on tile growing larger from around the corner. My entire body went on alert, but I couldn't move as if my legs had been glued to the floor. _I have to hide! Move! _

"It'ssss getting clossser! It smellsss deliciousss~!"

"I think it's coming from up ahead!"

They were practically around the corner! They were about to spot me!

_MOVE! _

I clamped my teeth over my tongue. Water flooded my eyes, but to my huge relief something clicked and my body began to move. The adrenaline flowing, I slammed myself sideways and gasped as I slid into a branching off hallway that I hadn't noticed.

Not wasting a breath, I was on my feet the next instant and darted away, taking turns whenever I could. I had no idea where I was going, I just was moving.

As my reality began to slow down and catch its breath, I pressed myself against a wall to catch my own. My legs felt like jelly and I slid down to the ground, struggling to calm down.

_That was close…too close. _

I almost stopped breathing when a sudden chime of laughter echoed throughout the air.

_Dear Kami, give me a break…Wait!_

There was another voice that began to speak. There was no mistaking it either.

Hiei!

It was amazing how fast I felt my mood change. My face flipped up and I was suddenly smiling and feeling excited, a huge relief coming over me.

_Where's it coming from? _I looked around anxiously and then just started searching, peering around every corner in search for the voices.

I finally reached the correct hallway and I turned the corner, his name practically on my lips, but I stopped short and faltered.

There was Hiei, smirking, safe and carefree, hands pocketed and obviously completely at ease. But that's not what had frozen me to the spot.

Not Hiei... But his companion, who'd stopped talking the moment I turned the corner.

She was tall and intimidating, a free head of short hair resting over one side of her face. What looked like an X shaped scar could be seen only on the bottom left side of her face due to the strip of cloth and ball of metal that hid the other half. A concerning amount of awe and fear wracked my body.

She took one look at me and with her single blue eye, I was petrified to the spot, my heart in my mouth. Her glare paralyzed and in that instant, it was just her and me.

I didn't know who she was, but there was one thing I did know.

This woman was not happy to see me, and I'd just managed to incredibly piss her off.

* * *

><p>Crappy ending is crappy ;A; oh well, I'm glad I was able to post another chapter up c: it's been too long my beloved readers! I hope you missed the story, but never fear the show goes on! Haha, I'm tired xD<p>

please review! Don't be shy to share your thoughts! :D till next time!

- Love InuChimera7410

* I'll be posting review replies in a bit, just wanted to post the chapter first!


	17. Light on the Truth

...I should just go die in a hole... T-T Sorry for the long wait ;A;

It totally slipped my mind to do my responses on the last chapter ;_; But I didn't forget this time :)

Review Responses:

**Just 2 Dream of You: **and just as I reappeared, I vanished just as quick! School is kicking me a$$ ;A; And yes Mukuro! Dun dun dun! O.O She's so evil, trying to steal Hiei away ._. grrr... Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! I was really excited in the beginning with it and then it kind of went bleh.. But enjoy anyways! :D Thank you for always reviewing~! I appreciate it so much c:

**stacikate16: **Would it be absolutely horrible of me to wish you an extremely belated Happy Birthday? Dx I've been so terrible with updates... ugh "OTL ... But thank you so so much for still reading :) And definitely reviewing! It means the world to me c:

**Vongola Thirteen:** Hide yo' wife, hide yo' kids because Mukuro's angry o.o Haha :D I'm not sure how much protection that rock will be... ._. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

**sailorangelmoon1: **I'm finally updating! Yay :D Sorry for such a long wait ;A; I'm going to be typing fast and furiously over the holidays, so let's cross our fingers that I'm able to write a couple of chapters in advance so I'm not leaving you guys hanging for so long next time! *crosses fingers* Thank you so much for reviewing!

**DemonMiko Jenna: **What can you do :D Once an idiot, always one ._. Yusuke! What are we going to do with him? *facepalm* Haha, out of the frying pan and into the fire for Ren! Now read on my chickie~! xD I hope you enjoy this one! :) Sorry for the super long wait between updates Dx

**middlekertz: **o.O We can only hope, my friend. We can only hope. ... On a happier note, I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about! ;D Hope you enjoy this chapter after such a long wait! :(

**dragoscilvio: **You're going to have to read to find out! But something tells me that they might not exactly become the best of friends... o.o Thank you for reviewing! :D Hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Tay: **Thank you for that! And wait no longer (wahhh it's been so long ;A;) ! Enjoy the chapter! xD

**no name 128: **No, no, thank you for reading them! :'D And thank you for the compliment! It really made me feel happy when I read it :) I'm sorry for such a long wait though! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**DDragonWhisper: **Aww thank you~! :3 Frankly, I feel all warm, fuzzy, and honored for such an undeserving compliment like that x3 I'm glad I can make people feel that way with my story c: I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH... T-T

Enjoy and please review! One away from 150! You guys are too good to me ;A; I'm so undeserving! OTL

Chapter 17 Light on the Truth

It was funny how scary I used to think Hiei's glare was because the orange-haired woman's was at least 50 times worse. That single blue eye seemed to drill into me, making all of my insides squeeze and my breath to stop short. In the eternal second that we stood staring into each other's eyes, I felt like a rabbit that was about to be inevitably devoured by its predator.

Noticing Mukuro's diverted attention, Hiei finally realized the addition of a third party. He turned around in curiosity, but as soon as he caught sight of me, his eyes widened and slanted down into a surprised expression that quickly rearranged itself into one of alarm and anger.

"Ren!"

I inhaled sharply, as if Hiei calling my name had broken some kind of spell that the woman had been able to freeze me with just her single, piercing blue eye. I hadn't even realized that I'd started holding my breath and only then did I notice how long it had been when my lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen. I tried to take a step forward, but gradually realized that they were shaking and my knees were locked in place; I had to grip the wall beside me to keep myself up.

The woman didn't drop her cold stare though and she made no sudden movements even when Hiei quickly made his way to my side. As soon as he touched my shoulder, I felt better and even _safe_. I must not have realized just how terrified I'd been for the past hour because with just one touch, relief wracked my body and everything turned to jelly; my legs gave out and I slid to the floor in a numb heap. Alarmed, Hiei bent down beside me.

"What's wrong?" he asked in hurried concern, but I just shook my head and exhaled shakily.

"Sorry," I gave him a small smile and even tried a small laugh, "I just lost feeling in my legs."

He snorted sharply and I jolted in surprise. I was caught even more off guard when he took hold of my shoulders and stared straight at me.

"I was aware of your moronic tendencies, but this is just ridiculous! What the hell are you doing out of the room? " He yelled at me and I blinked at first, not registering what he was saying, but as soon I did I remembered all of myanger in the first place.

"Why are _you_ angry? _I'm_ the one who was abandoned in some hellhole! How did you expect me to react after I woke up in a place I'd never been before, completely alone?" I argued back hotly.

"I expected you'd have the common sense to _wait_ there! Do you have any idea how dangerous and stupid that was to just leave without anybody with you? A demon could've spotted you- the Makai isn't exactly like the human world- he wouldn't have had a problem attacking you. You could've gotten hurt, or," His expression darkened, "worse."

My words jammed in my throat. I hated the fact that he was making a valid point. I struggled for a comeback, grasping at straws.

"But-but," I stammered, "I didn't know what else to do." I finished miserably. I really was an idiot. I'd almost had three different run-ins while just trying to get here.

I must've looked as sad and miserable as I was feeling because the anger on Hiei's face drained away. He stood back up, running an agitated hand through his hair and sighing. With a grumble, he offered me his other hand. Feeling like a child who'd just had their wrists slapped, I took it, looking down at my bare feet.

"Sorry," I muttered softly, thought I still thought he was at fault too, stubbornly refusing to meet his gaze. I flinched slightly when I first felt Hiei's hand rest atop my head, but almost instantly relaxed. He wasn't looking at me either.

"Just think next time. You could've used the bond." He said tersely and removed his hand.

I deadpanned. And wanted to just turn to the wall and implant my face. I _was _a moron.

"So I'm assuming that it's safe to say that this is the human girl Koenma mentioned earlier."

I was momentarily startled from the new voice- believe it or not, I'd almost forgotten that the woman was there with us. It definitely belonged to that first laugh I'd heard. I tensed up, noticing that she was only now approaching us.

"Sorry to break up the touching reunion." the woman smirked slightly, but Hiei just growled and rolled his eyes.

"Please, Mukuro," he bit back, but I could see the twinkle of amusement flashing in his eyes. I was floored. I'd never seen Hiei so... relaxed with anyone. Let alone be teased and respond with something other than a vicious retort.

Mukuro stopped and I had to physically repress a flinch. Though she was still smirking, her icy eyes made me shiver as she stared at me coldly. She held out an open head and smiled slightly.

"I'm afraid we haven't officially met though the others have told me all about you. I'm Mukuro." She said coolly.

Although the tips of my ears burned slightly, I made myself calm down and tried to casually return the polite gesture. I took her hand. Her entire palm was rough and firm as if she'd handled many things. _What else could I expect, especially since she's a demon_. I took the small opportunity to really observe her.

She looked much more intense up close than she did far away. Her short orange hair was choppily cut and hung thickly on one side of her profile, the rest dwindling in slight chunks above a strange contraption over her eye. I tried not to stare, but I couldn't help but shoot up a couple of quick glances that I hope she didn't notice, but by the subtle flicker in her expression, I had the guilty feeling that she did. A deep scar was etched into her face, a dark and permanent discoloration; it looked old. But when I focused on the good side of her face and blocked out the rest, I could tell she was very beautiful. Or at least had once been.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I replied, "My name is Ren." I tried removing my hand, but Mukuro didn't let go. I'm not sure if I imagined it, but it felt like she was holding on tighter, but all of the sudden she released my hand, the smile not quite reaching her eyes.

"So I've been told." She said curtly, turning to Hiei. I swallowed nervously and grimaced. I didn't understand where this coldness was coming from. I wasn't blind- as soon as I'd made eye contact with her when I came around the corner, I could tell that this woman, Mukuro, had definitely not been happy to see me. Maybe Hiei or the others had said something about me that ticked her off. I hoped that wasn't it, but I couldn't tell whether I would have rathered her to blatantly dislike me instead of hiding it behind a chilly mask like what she was doing.

I shot Hiei a glance, wondering if he could tell if there was anything wrong, but he seemed obliviously unaware of the tense, radiating vibes.

"It's good that you're finally awake," Mukuro said, "I was beginning to wonder if you had died."

I squirmed awkwardly. _Was that supposed to be a joke?_

"Uh, no," I said.

"Regardless, come. Now that we're all present, I'd like to hear the full story from Koenma." She stared down at me, "and I hope it's worth my time."

I wanted to swallow my tongue, but Hiei saved me from having to respond even though I don't think he realized he was saving me in the first place.

"Koenma's in the bay with Yusuke and the fox," He replied nonchalantly, only too used to Mukuro's brashness and thinking nothing of it this time specifically.

Mukuro abruptly turned around and began walking down the corridor. Hiei looked at me, "Ren, stay close."

I nodded, not trusting my ability to speak, and darted behind him as we followed Mukuro. Even though I could only see her back, I couldn't shake her burning, ice blue eyes from my mind.

~.~.~.~.~

Yusuke's tea spewed across the room and luckily just missed Hiei and Kurama by a couple of inches. He coughed and sputtered on his drink, before slamming his hands down.

"We need to _what?_" he gasped.

"We need to go to Raizen's grave." Koenma repeated as calmly as he could. Normally, I felt blissfully unaware when they all talked about things I didn't understand, but seeing as a large part of the situation concerned me, I felt terribly lost. I had no idea what was going on, or why Yusuke had just spit out his tea. Even Kurama seemed a little confused. Hiei was beginning to growl and I could tell that his anger was beginning to bubble.

Hiei turned towards Mukuro who was the only calm one in the room. After Koenma had spilled the information, she was the only one who hadn't reacted in any way. Either she had the best poker face ever, or she really felt nothing about any of this. I had the feeling it was a bit of both.

"And you?" Hiei growled at her, which startled me. "Did you know about this?"

Mukuro just shrugged, "Not at all, but…I did have a feeling." She looked down as if she was musing something over and I see her glance at me.

I'd been tossing ideas in my head about how Mukuro and Hiei knew each other, but everything they did just confused me even more. On one hand, they seemed comfortable with each other and on another, they seemed to dislike each other just as much at times. It gave me both a sick and strangely relieved feeling. I was just a bundle of confusion.

"Wait," I protested weakly, "Who's Raizen?" Four pairs of eyes brushed over me and I wanted to disappear.

"It doesn't matter," Hiei said suddenly, "because we're not going."

Koenma glared at him, "That's not for you to decide, Hiei."

"I already did." He crossed his arms as if to say he'd made his point.

"It's imperative that we do!"

"Don't you mean that it's imperative that _she _does? I want some answers Koenma. What possible connection is there between Ren and Raizen?" Hiei pointed straight at me and glared aggressively at Koenma. Koenma bit his lip.

Kurama sighed, "Don't you think you've kept us in the dark long enough Koenma? The situation's obviously a lot more heavy than we'd originally thought."

_As if it wasn't bad enough_, I thought. Koenma wouldn't respond, his body language completely closed off. It was like he was having an inner war with himself. I could only wonder what was so bad that he was so desperate to hide. Was what he was hiding so big that it was really such a big deal? And if so, or even regardless, what did any of this have to do with me? The only thing that I could possibly think of was Asami's connection with Kuri who I was having visions of.

The longer the silence stretched, the more obvious it was that Koenma wasn't planning on talking willingly until we did what he said. Yusuke growled, sitting back down with crossed arms.

"You're one stubborn bastard, I'll give you that much," he muttered sullenly.

Koenma looked up, "I know, I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"Save your excuses," Hiei cut him off sharply, "From what I can tell, this entire trip has been a pointless waste of ti-"

"Why don't you just let the girl decide?" Mukuro said casually.

_The girl._ I paled slightly, recognizing the chill in the undertones of her voice.

"What's there left to decide?" Hiei protested again and made the motion to stand up again, "We're not going."

"Wait, Hiei," I tried to say, but stopped when he glared at me.

"What's _wrong_ with you?" his harsh words cut like a knife, but he kept going, "Don't you realize the gravity of the situation? What reason did you possibly stand to gain from coming here in the first place? You're in extreme danger here!" He shouted.

The others in the room all looked blown away by Hiei. They'd never seen him this fiery before.* Even Mukuro's cold poker face had given away to a hint of astonishment.

Koenma seemed torn between being alarmed, confused, and shocked at his behavior, "Calm down Hiei! As long as we're with her, we should be ok."

Hiei whirled on him, fuming, "Bast-"

"Hiei!" I shouted suddenly, "Stop it." Even though I wasn't sure what was going on, I hated seeing him so angry. _Why was he so upset?_ I reached out and ended up latching onto his hand. "It's just a grave right? What could happen?"

He stiffened and pulled his arm away; I felt a sharp pang in my chest when he did, and not from the bond. For a second, he almost looked _guilty_, but then his expression blanched and he stuffed his hands in his pockets, stalking over to the door. He shot me a cold glance.

"Fine. I don't care - do what you want." And he left, sliding the door closed behind him.

"Wait, Hiei-" I stretched out a hand and was about to follow after him, but a tight hand on my arm stopped me dead. I looked at Mukuro angrily, for the first time not afraid, but mad.

"What are you doing? I need to go talk to him," I insisted with a tug, but her grip continued to tighten, to the point where it was becoming very painful. I gasped in pain and the three others leapt to their feet in alarm.

"Mukuro!" Koenma cried, but she just glared at him before turning back to me.

"Maybe you've done enough girl. Leave it be," she whispered darkly and pushed me away. Kurama caught my shoulders before I sprawled across the table.

"Hey Mukuro!" Yusuke leapt to his feet, but she was already gone too.

Kurama helped me back up, "Are you alright, Ren?" he asked in concern.

I sighed shakily and nodded, rubbing my arm where Mukuro had held on. I could already see a growing hint of purpling, but I just pulled down my sleeve.

"Jeez, what got into them?" Yusuke said sourly.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not about to find out," Koenma muttered.

I quietly sat back down and concentrated. Hiei's presence was growing weaker and weaker- obviously he was moving further and further away. But I could feel his anger as if he were standing right next to me.

What had just happened? I couldn't help but feel hurt and confused. Maybe Hiei was right, and I should've never come here in the first place, but I couldn't just take that back. I'd meant what I'd said when I would do anything I could do if it would save people from fates like Mako. Hiei couldn't change that.

"What do you expect to happen at this grave Koenma?" Kurama asked suddenly and I looked up. It would be nice to know what had stemmed all this trouble in the first place.

Koenma sighed, "Frankly, to be honest, hopefully nothing, but we won't know for sure until we come face to face with the problem."

"So is that really all we have to do?" I asked quietly, "We just have to visit this grave?"

Koenma nodded, "Yes, that's all we need to do. Then we'll see what happens."

I was too tired to ask what he meant by that. I just wanted to go home, "Then let's go get this over with."

~.~.~.~.~

Things were tense when we finally reunited with Hiei and Mukuro. They were together when we met them by Puu and my stomach soured when I saw them. I refused to look at either of them and I made sure to stay away from Mukuro. I'd almost been hoping that Hiei wouldn't come with us, but I figured that wasn't possible still. Even though it practically felt like we weren't connected anymore at times, it wasn't nearly long enough to reach the grave from here. Yusuke said that it was at least several hours away, and that was just flying.

It was all very quick and smooth. Kurama helped me up, much to Hiei's displeasure (according to my sensations from the bond) and as soon as everyone was on Puu's back, we were in the air. For a terrible moment, I thought Mukuro was going to accompany us and only when we had left the ground did I relax, watching her body gradually shrink away.

Hiei sat away from the rest of us, turned around and towards the back. Saying it was a bit awkward was an understatement. The rest of us were sitting in a vague circle; I was sitting so I didn't see Hiei unless I turned around.

Yusuke drummed his fingers restlessly against his arm, "Well isn't this nice." I glared at him sourly.

Kurama sighed, "Ren, if you don't mind me saying," he paused until he was sure I was listening, "In normal circumstances, I would volunteer to go talk to Hiei, but I'm not sure what's wrong in the first place. Maybe you should go see if he's alright."

"Why should I? It's not like I know anything you don't either," My cheeks burned guiltily- that had sounded a bit more bitter than I would have liked it to.

"I suppose- but I have the feeling you might be the only one who could help. Unless you have no qualms about this?" He asked, his red brows arching prettily.

I groaned into my hands. Why did it have to be_ me_? "That's not it! It's not as if I like seeing him like this, but what am I supposed to do? He's obviously mad at me, so I think you're wrong. Wouldn't I be the last person he'd want to see?"

"Maybe, but I don't think so."

"You think or you know?" I grimaced. I didn't want to cross into dangerous territories without having a more positive assurance than 'maybe.'

"If you're that worried, why don't you try gaining the upper hand?" Koenma suggested.

"How?" I asked.

"Well, how about through the bond? If you could figure out how exactly he's feeling, then maybe you could take that and decide where to go from there."

I mulled it over, "I suppose it's worth a try..." Closing my eyes and tuning everything out, I willed my inner conscience to follow the familiar foreign existence until I reached the dividing wall that marked the brink of our connection. On the surface, I could tell he was definitely agitated, but it felt like a small storm, like there was more to it than just that. There was always more to it with this guy, I thought with the ghost of a smile.

Ever so gently so as not to startle him (or maybe if I was lucky, he'd be too distressed to even realize I was right there), I reached over to prod the wall. To my bewilderment, there was almost no resistance; on the contrary, it almost felt like I was being sucked in instead.

Suddenly, my own feelings weren't my own anymore and I clutched my chest, slightly overwhelmed with the inflow of alien emotions. Everything was beginning to whirl so fast that it was hard to pick out everything else. There was agitation for sure, but I could feel his confusion just as much. As I allowed the feelings to wash over me, they became easier to discern. There was a feeling of, almost, helplessness? And the desire to... it all became jumbled again, so I couldn't really say, but there was a strong, nearly involuntary desire to do _something_. Then just more anger underneath it, as if just feeling all of this was making him even more angry.

Because I was so consumed in his conscience, I couldn't just remove myself as easily as I'd come in and it was a forceful withdrawal; I gasped out loud when I finally came back to myself. I twisted around to look at him, only to be met with a glowering pair of red eyes. He looked startled and even more livid. I felt as if I'd just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

"Well?" Yusuke asked, "Any luck?"

I was beginning to feel lightheaded from the sudden flux of emotion, "I'm not exactly sure if that was worth it." I frowned, "I think he's even angrier now."

"Perfect- that's just what we need." We all sighed and I made an executive decision. I got on my knees, still painfully aware of how high we were.

"I'll go talk to him now."

"Really?" Koenma perked up instantly, but then coughed, "I mean, that's great. Is there anything we can do?"

"Do it yourself?" I rolled my eyes and started crawling Hiei's way before Koenma could answer. I took a deep breath before pausing just behind him, noticing how he tensed and subtly shifted his body the other way.

"Hiei?" I tried softly, but when there was no response, his red eyes set dead ahead, I readjusted myself so I was sitting next to him, knees pulled into my chest though I made sure to sit at least an arm's distance away to start with.

"I know you're not much of a talker to begin with," I began, deciding to approach the matter directly. Hiei was more of a 'to-the-point' person to begin with anyways. "But what happened back there?"

When he didn't answer, I tried again, "I don't get it Hiei. Why are you so angry? I'm sorry if it was something I said, but I don't feel like I did anything wrong. However, I don't want you to be angry or keep it all in anymore. You know, from the beginning of all this mess months ago we've been stuck together, so maybe you should start taking advantage of that. We're in this together, like it or not, and you need to know that I'm here for you." I paused, letting it sink in, feeling a light blush dust my cheeks. _Kami, I sound cheesy..._

Hiei slowly shook his head and I could only wait, confused. Then the corner of his eyes flicked up to mine and I could see a small grin forming. Suddenly, he threw himself down backwards and closed his eyes.

"How nice it must be to live so ignorantly. I've even gone so far as to envy you."

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed hotly, my ears burning.

"Hn." Hiei smirked and I glared down at him. He opened a single eye and glared back.

"What?" he said gruffly.

I stared at him thoughtfully, "I can tell that you're lying." He snorted.

"Please, spare me." he said dryly.

I shook my head, "I'm not about to go on patronizing you, I really just want to talk." Of course Hiei was never going to say it directly, so I'd have to draw it out. I did have one suspicion in my mind though and it was the only lead I had...

"Are," I blushed, hoping I wasn't making a fool of myself, "Are you really that worried about me?"

It was as if I'd spoken a different language the way Hiei was staring at me. It was like steam could have come from my ears at any moment; I began to ramble, growing even redder.

"I'm sorry! I couldn't think of anything else! I knew you were angry with me for coming here in the beginning and I know you were right, but I felt like it was the only thing I could do and then I woke up in that room and I was scared- then I was running away from demons, then I saw you and Mukuro. We saw the others and they mentioned Raizen's grave and you blew up, and _Kami_, _what am I even saying anymo-"_

A warm hand suddenly pressed against my mouth and I stared at Hiei with wide eyes, a light flush glowing on his face.

"Stop... talking." he said slowly between breaths as if he'd just come back from a long run. He released my mouth and my own hands reached up to hover over it, as if I were about to do it again.

"Sorry," I squeaked quietly, wanting to die. What the hell just happened? What was all that _junk_that just spewed from my mouth? I wish I could wrap myself in a bubble and never have to come out, which technically I could, but it kind of defeated the point since you could see through it.

Hiei eyed me carefully, also afraid that I'd go off again. Behind my hands, my voice was muffled, "Maybe it'd be a better idea if just didn't say anything at all. "

I completed expected for Hiei to just agree and for it all to go back to square one, but he just sighed in frustration.

"I'm not really sure why I got so angry," he suddenly snapped at me out of the blue, "I don't understand any of it." He growled irritably.

_Alright...that's a pretty good start, _I thought hopefully. I slowly lowered my hands.

"You don't know why you got angry? So it didn't have anything to do with-" I pressed my mouth in a thin line. I wasn't about to have another episode. When Hiei saw my face, he rolled his eyes and avoided my gaze. For a moment, it was like he was going to say something because I could see his face contort from struggling with the words, but then he just growled.

"Hn, just forget it. It never happened."

I couldn't help but groan. _I finally thought I'd been able to get somewhere with him..._ But on the other hand, I would venture to say that everything was okay between us now, or as okay as it had been before. _If only he'd open up to me_, I thought wistfully.

"So," I drawled quietly, "you're not angry with me, right?"

He shot me a weird, wary look, "What?"

"No, it's nothing. Never mind," I smiled. Just like when we first arrived in the Makai, we silently watched the passing world beneath us for a while. A brief break in the treetops revealed a small blue pond. I frowned, suddenly reminded of a similar looking, single blue eye.

"So," I tried saying casually, "Mukuro..." I absentmindedly rubbed my arm where the light purple bruises were dotted.

"What about her?" Hiei clipped and I pretended to be looking at the scenery, trying to think of something else.

"You guys seem like... good friends." It was half a statement, half a question because to be honest, I really had no clue.

"Hn."

_Ok... new strategy._ "Is she family?" I tried not to sound too hopeful. Of course I should've already know that it would have been too good to be true because Hiei just snorted.

"Not nearly. Back when Yusuke discovered he was actually a demon, she called me from the human world. Of course, I only worked under her for a short period before Raizen died and the tournament began for the right to rule the Makai."

"Wait, what tournament? And Raizen was still alive?" I asked.

Hiei smirked lightly, "Raizen, once one of the three kings of the Makai and Yusuke's father- although not technically."

"_What?_"

I was finally clued in because Hiei went on to explain who Raizen was and their connection to everything, starting from Raizen's one-night stand with a human which led to Yusuke's birth centuries later (it was hard to wrap my head around) and he even told me about Sensui, a human that had gone wrong in the pursuit of justice that ultimately led to the discovery of Yusuke's heritage after he'd died and apparently came back.

He told me about how Yusuke, Kurama, and him had been summoned to the Makai from each respective territory and spent their time training for three rigorous years until Raizen finally died and Yusuke proposed a demon tournament to rule the Makai. That's when Hiei left Mukuro as his own demon and joined the group of competitors in the tournament.

"What happened?" I asked, completely amazed and sucked into his tale.

Hiei wasn't so forthcoming with many details about the tournament, but I realized why when I understood that he'd lost to Mukuro in one of his later bouts. However, he didn't seem necessarily embarrassed by it but, if anything, almost anxious to fight her again. He'd even began to grin as he reminisced. I couldn't wait for him to move on with the story, but the churning feeling in my stomach only worsened as he went on to explain that after a demon named Enki had been crowned king, Hiei and Mukuro had become partners in a staff that ensured that stray humans that accidentally ended up in the Makai were safely returned back to the human world. And it had been that way ever since. Until a couple of months ago, that is, bringing us to the beginning of it all.

_So they really _are_ close_, I thought with a bitter twinge. I shook my head. It didn't matter- it's not like it was any of my business. Hiei hadn't gone that into it, but I'd gotten the hint that something heavy happened between the two of them during Hiei's training. I could see it in his eyes when he'd told me.

"What's that?" Hiei's voice was suddenly strained and withdrawn.

"Huh?" I followed Hiei's line of sight, slightly confused as it led towards my lap. My stomach flipped over when I realized what he was looking at though; I hadn't even noticed my sleeve rolling back.

"It's nothing," I said quickly, yanking it down, but Hiei had already seen it. In a flash, he'd taken hold of my wrist and had pulled my arms towards him. I'm sure he noticed my initial flinch when he grabbed me because his grip immediately loosened and he began to handle my arm more gently, beginning by pulling back my sleeve, revealing the five-pronged bruises. Though the majority were still purple, the pinky finger's imprint was beginning to fade to a greenish-yellow.

Hiei's gaze was steely and he spoke tightly, as if he was struggling to keep control of himself, "Who was it?"

_Like I thought, straight to the point,_ I thought dryly. Biting my lip, I avoided his gaze and tried to take my arm back. "I said it was nothing," I repeated, but he didn't release it. He stared at the small wounds and lightly spread his fingers over my arm, matching each finger with each bruise. I was tight with tension. I could feel him growing angry again, very quickly.

For a brief moment, his eyes flickered over towards the others behind us, and in alarm I stopped his train of thought.

"It wasn't any of them!" I exclaimed hurriedly, "They wouldn't hurt me." The sudden strain flowed out of his figure, but he wasn't nearly done with me, still holding my wrist. He wasn't letting me out of this and trained his ruby eyes into mine, locking me in place.

"Who did this to you?"

I shivered. His voice was calm and I had no doubt about his concern, but underneath the surface, I could _feel_ the danger lurking there.

I don't know why I couldn't just tell him that it was Mukuro. Maybe I just didn't want to start anything. Maybe it was because of how I'd seen him when they were together, like he was actually content, or because of all their history together. Maybe I felt like if I told him what had happened, it'd be like I was ruining something that I had no business ruining. Or maybe I was just being stupid. I really don't know.

"I-it-"

"Hey, there he is. It's about time, I was starting to lose feeling in my ass!" Yusuke suddenly shouted.

Thank _Kami for Yusuke's ass! _

Taking advantage of Hiei's surprise, I removed my arm and hurried over towards the others before he could get me again, pulling down my sleeve once again and internally beating myself for having gotten into that situation in the first place.

Kurama gave me a smile, "So I take it that it went well, seeing as you never came back."

I laughed nervously, shooting a glance over my shoulder at Hiei, who was glowering at me. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know exactly what he was thinking.

"You could say that."

~.~.~.~.~

We literally must have been in the middle of nowhere. Dusty mountains went on for as far as the eye could see except for a thin line of forests in the opposite direction. Puu landed at the base of one and that was when I first noticed the gravestone. Demons must have had superhuman vision for Yusuke to have seen the relatively small marker from so high up.

I slid down Puu's side, gripping his fur so I didn't just fall, and ran next to Yusuke who was already sitting by the grave and bowing his head in respect.

"So this is your dad...?" I asked hesitantly.

Yusuke nodded, "So Hiei explained?"

"Yes. I'm having a tough time picturing it in my mind though. It doesn't really make any sense at all- it should be impossible." I knocked the side of my head, sticking my tongue out. Yusuke just chuckled as the others began to approach at their own leisure.

"Trust me, I've learned by now that 'impossible' doesn't exist. That's speaking from experience." He grinned cheekily and I smiled.

I turned to the grave. It was fashioned from an enormous block of grey marble that was tucked into a shallow mouth in the wall of the mountain and was beautifully engraved with his name in the center of the headstone. I felt tiny compared to it and wondered if he had really been so large of a demon or if the large grave was only a symbol of who he used to be in live.

_I wonder what kind of demon he was, _I thought.

"Alright Koenma, we're here. _Now _will you tell us what we're supposed to do?" Yusuke whirled around after he'd finished paying his respects. Koenma jumped in surprise and started waving his hands.

"I already tell you, I'm not really sure! I don't know what to expect, but could you try connecting with his spirit Yusuke? Maybe it'll stimulate something." Koenma suggested.

I glanced at him skeptically, "Connect with his spirit?" Wait, who was I to judge?

Koenma nodded with a shrug, "It couldn't hurt to try."

Kurama glanced from the grave to Yusuke curiously, "Koenma, what do you exactly expect to be 'stimulated' ? "

"And what does any of this have to do with Ren?" Hiei asked gruffly with crossed arms, asking my exact question before I could.

"I guess we'll see in several moments." Koenma said solemnly. Was he trying to be mysterious or something? I frowned at him sourly.

Yusuke stopped at the edge of the grave and shrugged, "Hey old man, you there? I'm back and I felt like visiting."

We waited in anxious silence and any sudden noise made me squeak. I was half-expecting to see some kind of ghost or something, especially after Yusuke's little 'nothing-is-impossible' talk, but when nothing important seemed to happen I relaxed slightly. Yusuke circled the grave and even leaned over it, his hands on his hips.

"_Hello_! Did old age make you deaf too, you bastard?" he shouted at the grave. Under different circumstances, I might've laughed... Okay, I did a little.

Yusuke stood back up and looked at Koenma, "Any more bright ideas Koenma?"

Koenma looked utterly lost and tried to brainstorm. While he did that, Yusuke turned back to squat beside the grave. Curious, I kneeled down next to him, staring at the small scripture on the tomb.

"What was he like?" I asked, purely curious.

"Hmm," Yusuke mused thoughtfully, sitting down, "He was definitely powerful." He nodded to himself, thinking it over. "Damn... what I would give for just one more chance to kick his ass."

I grinned softly, "Is this how all fathers and sons are with each other?"

Yusuke sniggered, "I wouldn't really group us with normal fathers and sons."

"You're probably right," I joked, and reached down to lightly trail my fingers over the etched words. For some reason, I felt sad that nothing had happened, but I shook the feeling away. If something had actually happened, I probably wouldn't be thinking like that at all.

"So are we done here Koenma?" Hiei asked curtly, "We might as well leave if nothing's going to happen."

"Impatient are we to return, Hiei?" Kurama said with a grin. I frowned, thinking it might have something to do with Mukuro. Sighing, I picked myself up and dusted off my pants. Turning to follow Yusuke back to Puu, I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly I came to an abrupt halt.

My vision split in two and my knees buckled violently, my legs and arms falling completely numb. Everything went black.

~.~.~.~.~

I thrust my arms out to catch my fall, squeezing my eyes shut, but the impact never came. Confused, I squinted through my closed eye lids and then yelped, jolting in disorder. I was no longer falling towards the ground. In fact, I was standing straight up. A sense of vertigo washed over me in my lost sense of direction.

"Wasn't I just falling _down...?_" I glanced at the ground to emphasize my puzzlement, but it only added to my overall sense of being lost. I was no longer standing on rocky desert ground, white mist sliding over my feet and slithering all around me.

"What the..." I muttered beginning to walk around in the strange white space, "Hiei? Yusuke? Kurama!" I called their names one by one, cupping my mouth, but there was literally nothing but the white mist as far as the eye could see.

A warm chuckling made my heart jump into my mouth. I whirled around with wide eyes and stifled a gasp.

I could see the silhouette of a sitting man beyond the fog who definitely hadn't been there before. The mist gradually began to clear... Well, he was some sort of man.

Although he had a humanoid figure, there were some very non-human features about him. First and most noticeable was the overflowing and thick silver hair that trailed around him. The yellowing strip of cloth he wore rested above a set of small, roguish eyes, a series of purple strips tattooed along the left side of his cheek. He was shirtless, revealing defined muscles and solids abs to boot.

"You're Raizen." I said without a doubt. I could now make out the fuzzy outline of him sitting on a grave. _His_ grave.

"It's about time," He chuckled.

I'm not sure what was wrong with me. Even after everything Hiei and Yusuke had told me about, I couldn't bring myself to feel afraid. And I knew a thing or two about being afraid. I felt comfortable, like I was safe and didn't have anything to fear. Which ironically made me a little scared.

"What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here? Where _is_ here?" I demanded, shooting him wary glances.

He waved a nonchalant hand, "Relax and don't be such a tight-ass," I did _not _appreciate being called a tight-ass, "We have all the time in the world here, and what's wrong with just coming to visit your granddaughter?" The ghost of a smile lit his lips and he opened his arms.

"Can I at least have a hug?"

It was like all the breath had been sucked away from me. I took in a shaky gulp of air, "Wh-what? What did you call me?"

He smirked and vanished. Startled, I whipped my head from side to side, only to feel a warm presence directly behind me. Squealing, I twisted around and fell backwards on my butt, immediately scooting away from Raizen. He squatted down and tilted his head, sizing me up. Suddenly, he smiled fondly, closing his eyes and crossing his arms, then nodding.

"Ah... where did the time go? The little ones grow up so fast- before you know it, you're a grandpa," He sighed blissfully as if he were actually some senile old man who spent his time reminiscing.

It was a struggle but I finally managed to find my voice again, "Alright, stop! Just stop. Who do you think you are? You're not my grandfather!"

"Sure I am!" He replied cheerfully, "On your mother's side."

"My mother's side...?" I grit my teeth, a huge lump forming in my throat, "That's impossible. I've met my mom's father and he's still _alive_!"

Raizen rolled his eyes, "Didn't my bastard of a son tell you how it works?" Contradictory to his words, he spoke fondly, " I don't see why it's so hard to believe. You see the fact of the matter is," He stared straight into my eyes and a feral grin spread across his face, "You should never have been born."

My heart almost stopped. He said it so easily that the words dug deep into me, but then he shrugged, "Or at least your mother shouldn't have."

If I believed any of this, hypothetically speaking, the unnecessary drama would only add to the list of the things I already disliked in my grandfather.

"My mother?" I said quietly, feeling the ugly, buried memories being raised, "Why her?"

"Not your human mother," He said gruffly, "You must remove yourself from your small-minded world and place yourself on the grander scheme. I'm talking of course of your mother, my wife and I's daughter."

"_Human_ mother? _Wife?"_ What could he possibly be implying? And Hiei had only mentioned his one-night affair- nobody had ever told me that he'd had a wife and child! My head was on the verge of spinning off my neck at any moment.

He held a finger to his lips, "Don't go blabbering that aloud- not many people actually know that. I'm really being technical when I saw wife, but that's ancient history."

I raised myself to my knees, "Nothing makes _sense_ anymore."

"I suppose you'd like an explanation," he taunted cheekily though looked slightly exasperated, "This was even before meeting my true lover, so you could imagine how badly of a cheeky bastard I was myself in those days."

I remained silent as he told his tale, not sure if I was still struggling with shock or not. He continued nonetheless.

"The Makai has always been a world ruled entirely by chaos, but in all chaotic environments a natural hierarchy rules behind the scenes, a feeble structure of organization that every demon knows well. My own family are part of the Mazoku and have always been at the very top of the chain, but there was one point where we wanted to become stronger, be even more powerful and it was decided to join one Mazoku and another demon from an almost equally ranking species, the Shiroku**, in order to conceive a new generation that would be even greater than before. The choice was made for me and I was chosen to be paired with the youngest female from the Shiroku. I could care less about any of it, but a ceremony was held regardless." He chuckled, recalling century old memories, "I couldn't stand that bitch from the start." His eyes found mine, "I'm assuming you're smart enough to have filled in most of the blanks by this point."

I nodded tightly. I did know- as much as it made me sick, I couldn't deny the blatant truth.

"It was Asami, wasn't it?" I said.

"That woman was like the thorn I couldn't remove. Before the ceremony, she never left my side if she could help it. She was infatuated," he growled, annoyed, "Powerful, dangerous, and attractive no doubt, but that was nothing to me. I was done with it all. After the night of the ceremony though, I had my little bout of fun and I left. I never saw her again." He shrugged like it was no big deal, "You could imagine her reaction when she discovered I'd run off- and later, when she realized I'd become involved with a human no less. I heard it wasn't pretty."

"Meaning?" I asked with a grimace.

"After years of trying to track me down only to find out what I'd done, she returned to her species and promptly slaughtered them all."

I shivered in horror, but he wasn't done.

"Except, what I didn't know was that after that one night, Asami had conceived a child. A little girl," He said. "However, the child was born too early and lacked the power of the Mazoku, let alone the Shiroku. Asami took the child and fled into hiding."

"On that mountain," I whispered, all the pieces falling in place. Raizen grinned.

"I never knew the girl- but I know that she died soon after. I've even heard through word of mouth that it was by the hands of her very own mother."

I started in shock. Could that be really true? Then what were all the dreams and visions I was receiving? Then it clicked and realization dawned on me.

"You say I'm your granddaughter," I choked out slowly, "But that couldn't be possible unless- unless-"

"Kuri had a child before dying." He finished easily.

"And the father was human."

"From what I understand- she had her father's genes." Raizen chuckled lightly, "And then centuries later, _you _come along, one of Kuri's direct descendants. Kuri's demonic blood runs generously through your veins, no doubt, explaining your particular abilities. Believe me now?"

Suddenly, the mist began swirling around Raizen, pulling him back in. I began to panic.

"Wait, I still have so many questions! I'm so confused," I gasped, stumbling after him. I heard him laugh one last time before he disappeared all together and a familiar feeling of numbness took hold again as I was sucked back into reality.

~.~.~.~.~

I woke up just as I was about to hit the ground until I realized that Hiei had managed to wrap his arms around my body before I made impact. My eyes were wide and I was trembling. I felt like throwing up.

I was back in the present as if no time had passed at all. It was like in the moment of a blink, I'd experienced all of that and then was expected to move on as if nothing had happened. For a serious moment, I started wondering whether I had seriously made all of that up, but it had been too real, too shocking. The foundation of my world had been shaken.

"What just happened?" Hiei suddenly demanded and I remembered that he was still supporting me. I quickly yanked myself out of his grasp and hurriedly replied despite my racing heart.

"It must be exhaustion," I said, "and me being clumsy as usual. Forget about it."

"What?" He growled. Obviously he was having a hard time believing me with everything I wasn't telling him.

"Ren!" Koenma surprised me as he darted up to me, desperately clutching my shoulders and searching my eyes for any sign of something out of the usual, "What happened? Did you see anything?"

It dawned that this may have been Koenma's intent all along. Somehow he must have found a connection and by bringing me here, prove it. I tried to act alarmed by his behavior.

"What?" I asked, shooting him a strange look, "What do you mean? See what?" I had never been a good liar, but I was praying that now of all times, he would just take it.

Maybe it was his desire for none of what he'd discovered to be true that made him so willing to believe me because he immediately relaxed and sighed in relief, letting go of my shoulders.

"Just- just making sure." And then he chuckled nervously, "Wow, you have no idea how relieved this trip has made me."

_I wish I could feel the same_, I thought as Hiei's eyes seemed to burn holes in the back of my head.

~.~.~.~.~

It was night by the time we got back and it was decided that we would stay put for one more night before returning to the human world, which left me slightly miserable. I just wanted to leave and never come back to this place, at least at the moment. I really was exhausted and just mentally drained. I think the others could tell because they quickly escorted me to my room and I didn't even give the headboard-eye a glance before I had passed out on the bed.

I dreamed briefly of Kuri and Asami still on the mountainside before waking up several hours later. A clock ticked nearby, each second stretching longer than the last. I tossed and turned uncomfortably, but finally deciding that I wouldn't be falling back to sleep anytime soon, I gave up. My mind was still reeling from earlier. I didn't just want to wait the hours out in this room either, so I slowly picked myself up and crept to the door.

I figured it wouldn't be any less dangerous than before, but for some reason, my stupid brain wouldn't let me feel afraid and I numbly left the room without a thought, carefully leaving the door ajar so I would recognize it when I came back, and started walking. I didn't know where I was going, I just needed to _move_. I trudged on silently.

Raizen had been a lot different than I'd imagined, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the connection of it all. It still seemed all so far-fetched and I had half a mind to not believe a word of it. It was unnatural and crazy- even crazier that it made the slightest bit of sense in the way all the pieces fit together.

_It definitely explained Asami's intense hatred of humans_, I thought, _and why she'd keep Kuri on that mountain for so much of her life. Yet, even after all that effort to keep her away from us though, it didn't prevent anything in the end. If anything, I think it just made it worse._

I thought about Kuri's child though, wondering how it had all turned out. Had Riku managed to escape? And her child had obviously survived until at least they had another child and so on, but was Asami really the one to end Kuri's life? Most of my dreams seemed to be chronological and I had a sinking feeling that I would be reaching the climax soon enough.

By the time I looked up, I noticed that I'd ended up in the white hallways where I'd first found Hiei and Mukuro together. Secretly I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't have to see Mukuro again if I could help it, rude or not. I examined my bruises, trying to picture Hiei's reaction if I had actually told him what happened. Would he get angry or defend her or just blow it off entirely? I wanted to tell myself that that couldn't happen, but that nagging _what if_ wouldn't go away.

So far so good- I hadn't picked up on any sounds that could signify that someone was coming. A cold draft settled over the hallway and I hugged myself, trying to warm back up and I paused to stare out the window over the tropical landscape. I caught myself thinking that it was actually kind of scenic... in its own creepy way. Beneath the dark red sky, strange vegetation and mountains lined the horizon, and what looked like some kind of city shone not far off.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

I leapt two feet in the air with a mild squeal. With a throbbing heart, I whirled around to find Mukuro lounging against the wall, her steely blue eye affixed on me.I cursed my crossed-fingers colorfully in my mind.

I hadn't been afraid before, but fear was starting to creep throughout my being, and rightfully so. My arm tingled in pain- if she was willing to hurt me like that, in front of people no less, what would she be capable of doing to me right now? I tried to step back, but I was only able to press against the barrier of glass.

"M-Mukuro! You surprised me," I tried to say lightly, but I was really alarmed. I hadn't even heard her coming and I'm 100% positive that she hadn't been there several seconds ago.

"Did I? My apologies," she responded coolly, but I was no stranger to sarcasm.

I bit my lip nervously, "W-was there something you needed?"

She thought it over, "Well, since you mentioned it..." In a flash, she vanished. I gasped in surprise and then almost choked on my own air when she reappeared directly in front of me. Her expression was calm and collected, but her eye sparkled dangerously.

"You can stop playing games, girl," she whispered quietly. "I sensed it as soon as I caught hold of your wretched stink."

"What?" I started shaking.

"The rest of them are fools to have been manipulated so easily," she narrowed her eye, "But I am no fool." I cried in terror as her hand suddenly lunged inches away from my face. Slamming her hand against the wall, a resounding series of cracking glass splintered the silence. In stunned horror, I slid down the wall.

"Reveal yourself," she said darkly, "and don't waste my time. I have no qualms about killing you this instant."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I cried. My first thought was that she was talking about my ancestors, but something deep down was beginning to stir within me, reacting to what she was saying, and I knew that that wasn't what she was talking about.

Her hand began to glow and the air popped with sparks of energy. Her power was overwhelming- my barriers wouldn't be able to hold her back. _She was really going to kill me!_

I surrounded myself with the strongest barrier I could muster, as she brought down her arm and I squeezed my eyes shut, curling into a ball and praying with all my might.

"_Mukuro!_"

Mukuro's energy vanished instantly and I opened my eyes through a veil of un-spilled tears.

Hiei, looking downright demonic, had Mukuro's arm in a death grip. Without his powers, it was probably nothing to her, but she stopped regardless and stared at him, unimpressed.

"_Step._" Hiei could barely muster the words, "_B__ack."_

Mukuro didn't say a word, but snorted and did what he said. Hiei immediately crouched beside me and snapped his head up when he noticed that Mukuro had started walking away.

"Where the _hell_ do you think you're going?" Hiei's voice trembled.

Mukuro paused briefly and glanced at him coldly, "This trash isn't my problem. Clean it up yourself. Next time you dare show yourself, I hope to see you back to normal and ready for duty." She vanished, this time for good.

Hiei growled deeply, but turned back to me and reached out, "Ren..." However, he stopped short when his hand collided with the my barrier, blocking his hand from going any further. Frowning, he rested his hand against the surface.

"Ren, it's alright. She can't hurt you now." He said quietly, but I was having trouble focusing on him.

"Let down your barrier," he demanded more firmly, catching my attention. With trembling fingers, I reached out to where his hand rested and matched the fingers, the barrier slowly dissolving around me. My hand pressed against his and I half-pulled, half-lunged into the crook of his body. I refused to let the tears fall- I wouldn't cry. Instead, I just let Hiei hold me until my trembling subsided into a shiver.

When I pulled away, he grabbed my arm, looked at the bruises and stifled another growl, knowing the truth now.

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head quickly. What was he apologizing for? I wish I could tell him that, but I had yet to find my voice again.

The sound of running echoed through the corridor and we looked to see Yusuke, Kurama and Koenma, all in alarm.

"We just passed Mukuro," Kurama said grimly, "She said you were here."

"Are you ok?" Yusuke asked, no doubt noticing how pale I was.

Being honest, I shook my head, "No- I just want to go." I sounded so pitiful, but I didn't care anymore. They exchanged looks, but one from stare from Hiei was all it took for Koenma to say he was going to get Puu, dragging the other two with him.

After they were gone, Hiei sighed and in one quick fell swoop, swiped one arm under my knees and another against my back and stoop up. I squeaked with surprise as he paused to readjust me and then pulled me against his chest so he could carry me more comfortably. My face burned.

"Y-you don't have to do that," I muttered feebly as he started walking. He just kept walking.

"Hn."

Still embarrassed, I eased my head to rest against his chest, in no mood to put up a fight. Besides, I couldn't help but admit that it felt kind of nice... A steady pulsing became rhythm and I focused on the sole sound. _Hiei's heart beat... _

I closed my eyes, "Thanks Hiei."

"Hn."

* * *

><p>*Hehehe sorry, pun xD I just had to do it! x3<p>

** I totally just made that up ._. I'm sorry OTL

MERRY FRIGGIN CHRISTMAS~! *Throws tufts of mistletoe at people* I just adore the holidays! :3 And I actually had money to buy gifts for people this year so I can't wait for them to open and see xD

Hope you guys liked the chapter! Anyways, soooo what did you guys think (apart from the fact that I've been a terrible update ever since school started _ ) ? Did I drop a bomb or what? :D Sorry if any of you guys think Raizen was OOC but when I imagined it, I could totally picture bad-ass Raizen being a some-what doting grandfather, at least in his own way! xD Tell me your thoughts: like it, don't? Did you see it coming? o.O Please let me know!

Reviews are love c: I also just noticed that we're one review away from 150 so that would be another special one-shot! :D

Love, InuChimera7410


	18. Home Bound

Argg! It was the weirdest thing! I had so much trouble with the beginning and middle of the chapter for some reason so I'm sorry if it's not really good. I was really struggling... Darn writer's block -_- I'm so sorry guys ;A;

Enjoy~!

Chapter 18 Home Bound

The glare of the sun was too much for a few moments before I could see properly as we crossed into the human realm. I felt my chest tighten- I had never appreciated how blue the sky was or how green the ground was... _Home._

Puu glided over the land with ease, and I rested against his neck, admiring the view, feeling surprisingly brave. I guess I was getting a bit more used to the height, or maybe I was just being desensitized- a fear of heights should be nothing compared to what I've been through the last couple of months. Yusuke yawned, stretching.

"Man, I'm beat. Do you think the hag's making dinner soon?"

Kurama chuckled, "Of course- the first thing you think about is food."

"I can't help it! I'm starving," Yusuke rolled over, clutching his stomach.

"Hn." Hiei scoffed silently, but at the mention of food my own stomach was beginning to grumble in protest as well, loudly. Hiei glanced at me with a raised eye brow.

"I'm a _little_ hungry too." I admitted with a small laugh. With everything that had happened in the Makai, I had been too stressed to even worry about eating. We hadn't eaten in the last day... My stomach grumbled violently in emphasis and I squeezed it, embarrassed.

"There's an understatement," Koenma chuckled then shot me a sheepish smile, "Sorry... I'm just so used to being around these guys all the time that I completely didn't think about any of your needs."

Kurama smiled, "We've never been accustomed to normal companions."

I wanted to laugh out loud in bitterness- I don't think I could really be counted as normal anymore. The sun lost its warmth on my back and the bit of good mood I'd had was sucked away with it. I sighed and leaned back down on Puu's neck.

"I just hope we get there soon," I mumbled miserably and I could sense the others exchanging confused glances. As expected, I felt Hiei trying to reach me through the bond, but I shut him out, not wanting to be bothered. I just wanted to be able to think. I shot him a brief glance, noting the look of surprise and aggravation he was shooting me, but then ignored him and the rest, focusing on the quiet change of scenery sliding along.

~.~.~.~.~

Botan sighed in pleasure, feeling warm to her toes despite the chilly air after having another sip of her tea. She gazed thoughtfully into the warm cup as the dark liquid swirled.

"I hope they get here soon." Botan mused out loud and laughed lightly to herself, "While the quiet is nice, it's not the same without the chaos."

Genkai, enjoying her own cup of brewed tea, chuckled companionably, "My, if I didn't know any better, I would think that _you_ were the sentimental bag of bones, not me. Ah, when you're young you have no worries... "

Botan smiled brightly with good humor, "I may be young Genkai, but I'm not sure I could say the same!* These boys leave me with _plenty _of worries..." She laughed and then thought of something, "Speaking of being young, where did Yukina and Kuwabara go?"

Genkai took another sip, in no alarm, and stared at Botan with a smirk, "You just noticed? Those two left a while ago."

Botan cocked her head in surprise, "Oh? I wonder what they could be doing then..."

"HEY! DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY FOOD?"

Botan whipped around in surprise the hot tea sloshing out of her cup while Genkai just raised a wrinkled eye brow in slight amusement. She cried out in anger and pain, quickly trying to wipe off the burning liquid although most of it had already been soaked up by her kimono. She glared up into the sky with a seething expression and instantly noticed Yusuke leaning over Puu's side, hands cupped around his mouth and screaming down at them both. Ren watched from her perch towards the base of Puu's neck with an incredulous twitch in her eye

"YUSUKE! _You got tea all over my kimono!_" She roared and hurled the cup into the air with a deadly accurate swing. _Bingo!_ Botan thought wickedly with a satisfied smile as the projectile smacked his face. Losing balance and seeing stars, Yusuke tipped forward and sailed towards the ground face-first, landing with a loud groan and painful-sounding smash. Botan huffed; Genkai continued to drink her tea.

Puu landed neatly and the two women went over to greet their friends. Ren was the first one off, almost tumbling off in the rush to get on the ground.

"Is he alright?" She asked in alarm towards Yusuke's twitching body, but Kurama placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Trust me, Yusuke's survived much worse." He said with a small grin, humor flickering in his eyes. Hiei leapt down from Puu's backside next and joined them with rolling eyes.

"You can't kill him," Hiei snorted, "He's like a cockroach."

Koenma eyed Botan warily as if he were waiting for her to attack him too, "Don't you think you could have handled that a bit more... gently?" Botan shot him an irritated glance and he slid over behind Genkai who was just shaking her head, clearly thinking on how idiotic they all were.

Hiei began to look around and his expression slowly tightened. Noticing the dark aura he was emitting, Kurama glanced at him curiously.

"What's wrong Hiei?" he asked him, looking around. He couldn't sense any foreign presence or whatnot. He toyed with the thought of it having to do with a certain brunette, but said girl looked as confused as he felt.

"Hey, where's Yukina and Romeo?" Yusuke suddenly asked, popping up behind Kurama and Ren (who promptly had a mini heart attack in surprise) and dusting off the loose pieces of dirt on his clothes. He exchanged a glare and a raspberry with Botan before they both turned away like pouting children. However, it was only too clear now what was the matter as realization dawned over Kurama and Ren.

Kurama hid a light smirk, but Ren seemed slightly more troubled and downcast.

Hiei growled at Yusuke's choice of wording and slowly turned towards Genkai, "Where are they?"

She just shrugged, "Beats me. It's none of my business to keep up with their shenanigans."

Yusuke snorted, oblivious to Hiei's growing fury, "_Shenanigans_? Jeez, only old hags talk like that." Yusuke half-expected it this time as another flying cup sailed towards him. Unfortunately though, it was still full with hot tea and Botan snickered in revenge as the steaming liquid seeped over his face.

Genkai pointed at him, "Watch your mouth brat or this old hag's going to have to teach you some manners."

"Ah! Excuse me," a voice interrupted cheerfully. Peeking around the screen door, Yukina glowed with a smile, and not only with that... only the women seemed to notice the light flush that dusted her cheeks.

"Welcome back," she greeted them and wiped her hands with a dish towel, coming out to see them and present Puu with a handful of corn who cooed happily at the treat. It was comical how fast Hiei relaxed, but he was obviously still suspicious. He stuffed his hands in his pockets in an attempt to seem nonchalant.

"Where's the moron?" he asked casually.

As if Hiei had given his cue, Kuwabara emerged around the side, albeit looking a little lost and scratching his head, but there nonetheless. His eyes widened when he spotted the group and quickly jogged up to them. On closer inspection, they could see that he was holding something green in his hands. Ren recognized it as some kind of herb that she had used with Yukina to cook dinner some nights.

"Hey Kuwabara, we were just wondering where you were," Yusuke commented as Kuwabara reached them. "What'cha been up to?"

Kuwabara then stood up and looked just as confused as ever, staring from the herb to him then Yukina, "Uh well, I- I'm not really-"

"Oh Kazuma," Yukina said happily and quickly went over to confiscate the cooking herb, "Thank you for getting it for me. You've been a big help." She blinked as if something just occurred to her and she raised a hand to her mouth, "Oh! I left the food unattended," She whirled around and went back towards the open screen door and shot them all a sweet smile one last time.

"I hope you guys are hungry. Dinner will be ready in about an hour." And she vanished. Kuwabara blinked dumbly, staring at the spot she'd just disappeared from.

"Uh... you're welcome...?" He said, apparently just as lost as the rest of them. Botan arched a blue eyebrow. _What on earth..._

"Anyways..." she drawled, eager to draw away the group's attention- actually, more from a _specific_ person- from the strange scene they'd just watch unfold. She had her own suspicions but kept them neatly hidden under a mischievous smile. After all, she could interrogate later.

"I'm assuming it went well then? I was surprised when I got your message, Koenma." she said.

Koenma smiled tiredly, "Yes, I'd call it all in all a successful trip."

"What are you talking about? We didn't learn anything." Yusuke mumbled and Hiei jumped the bandwagon, eagerly adding his own points of pessimism.

"It was pointless and unnecessarily put Ren in danger," he growled. Botan glanced at Ren- if she hadn't been looking, the gloomy flicker in her eyes would've been missed. Koenma shot him an irritated glance.

"Even so, it put my fears to rest; it's one less thing to worry about. Besides, she's perfectly fine- nothing happened." he said, gesturing towards her. Hiei began to growl and clenched his fists.

"If something _had_, it would have been on your _head_."

"Ren, dear...," As the others continued to bicker, Botan was still staring at her, concerned and troubled by the dark emotion that seemed to be eating away at her. The longer she examined, the more pale and withdrawn she seemed to become, "Are you alright?"

She jumped as if startled and started waving her hands, plastering a smile on her face, "What are you talking about? I'm fine." she paused, her facade wavering slightly, "Actually... I am a little tired though. So, if you don't mind, I think it'd do me some good to just go lay down for a little before we eat. Will you get me if I'm not back in time for dinner?"

"Of course Ren," Botan said and stood aside to let Ren pass. The others had halted their bickering, aware of the small exchange and watched as she quietly walked on, bowing and giving a warm greeting to Genkai, and went inside.

Botan turned back to the boys slowly, definitely worried now, "Are you sure nothing happened?"

Koenma was clueless, also baffled by her behavior, "No! At least, I don't think so... She seemed fine up until we left."

"Isn't it possible that she really is just tired from the trip?" Yusuke offered with a shrug, "It's not like we just went on some kind of mini-vacation. It might've been a lot to take in."

Botan frowned, unconvinced, "You could be right I suppose,"

Kurama glanced at Hiei who'd taken to silence.

"You wouldn't happen to know something, Hiei?" he asked and all eyes landed on Hiei who frowned.

Hiei crossed his arms thoughtfully and after a silent debate with himself, decided, "Before we left, I found Mukuro with her."

"_Mukuro_?" Botan gasped in alarm, "She... she didn't do anything?"

Hiei's expression was grim and he became angry just remembering, "I caught her trying to kill her."

"_What?_" Most of them cried out, but Genkai and Kurama's expressions only darkened.

Koenma had paled considerably and he groaned into his hands, "I should've known better... especially after _that..."_

_"That?" _Hiei repeated threateningly. Koenma 'eeped,' realizing that Hiei had already left when Mukuro had first confronted Ren. But Hiei had already found out when he'd looked at her arm. He knew the ugly bruises on her arms would fade eventually, but till then, the image had scarred his mind. It wasn't only the wound that made him so livid though, but everything that it symbolized- the fact that he'd been stupid and had let his anger prevent him from being there to stop it, his powerlessness, and ultimately his inability to protect her.

He made an aggressive burst towards Koenma who froze with fear. Yusuke and Kuwabara had already jumped into position, prepared to take action and hold him back if need be, but he just snarled once more and pushed them out of the way, heading towards the shrine stairs.

"Wait Hiei, where are you going?" Botan cried after him, but he just glared at her and continued. The group watched in silence as his spiky head dipped out of sight as he descended the stairs.

Suddenly, the group turned inwards to stare at Koenma who was torn with guilt.

"What?" he asked, a bit exasperated, "It's not like I knew that was going to happen! If I really thought Ren's life would have been in that much danger, I would've done something."

"I'm just glad that she's alright," Botan breathed, "Do you think someone should go after him?"

Kurama shook his head, "We should leave him to let off some steam. I'll keep track of him though, just to make sure he doesn't do anything rash."

"Alright... should I go talk to Ren, then?" Botan said.

"No," Genkai said firmly, "It sounds like that girl's been through enough in the past 24 hours. Let her rest,"

Kuwabara let out a breath that he'd been holding, "I don't know about you guys, but Hiei really scared me for a moment back there."

Yusuke sighed and scratched his head, "I knew that he's gotten pretty protective of Ren for a while now, but _jeez!_"

Botan rolled her eyes and pinched Yusuke's cheek mockingly, "Oh come on Yusuke. It's not like you wouldn't be the same way if it was Keiko!"

Yusuke swatted her hand away, "But that's different!"

Botan sighed at his sheer stupidity, dragging her hand down her face, "You really are hopeless..."

~.~.~.~.~

Whether it was because I didn't want to dream, my head was too stuffed with thoughts, or the light aching from my arm, I didn't get a wink of sleep like I'd wanted although, honestly, I didn't really expect to get any in the first place. I'm not sure how long I'd just been laying in my futon, but since Botan hadn't come to get me yet, I guessed it hadn't been a full hour. Again, my stomach reminded me grumblingly that I was hungry, but I'd already lost my appetite in my mellowing.

_So what now?_ I couldn't help but think. I'd learned about Raizen and Asami's history and how it all connected back to me and maybe my dreams, but it didn't answer why I was having them still. I was almost sure now that Kuri, my _ancestor_ - it was still so bizarre, it wouldn't fully register- was sending me flashes of her memories, but it all led back to the _why._ I understood Asami's hatred and bitterness that fueled her drive now, but _why _was she attacking _now?_ _Why_ was Kuri sending me these messages _now?_ Was it all because of me somehow?

I wonder why it even mattered that Kuri, Asami, and Raizen were my ancestors- Koenma had acted so urgently about it. Ok, it was a fact, but I didn't see how it would help our present situation at all. I couldn't say I was exactly pleased that my great-great-whatever grandmother was a bloodthirsty demon that was out to kill, but amidst all the negative, I did manage to think of something that made me snicker. If I had inherited Kuri's power, that would make her my ancestral mother right? So Asami and Raizen would be more like ancestral grandparents or something meaning... Yusuke was my ancestral uncle? Oh, what a family tree- I couldn't wait to see what kind of reaction he'd have.

Which led to the next thing: if I would even tell them to _see _a reaction. Koenma would definitely have wanted to know and it wasn't like I was trying to hide the truth from him, but after I had missed the opportunity to tell him right after I'd found out, I just couldn't bring myself to say it. It's not like I could have been waiting for the right time because I felt like I'd missed that window anyways... maybe I really _should_ have just told him. I should've let him know.

After all, Mukuro knew.

At least I think she did. That was the whole reason she threatened me in the first place, right? But the strange thing was, I felt like that wasn't all that she was talking about, like there was something else she knew, but that's where _I_ became lost because I really had no idea beyond that.

_Mukuro..._ Now that I wasn't face-to-face with death, I couldn't help but start to feel angry (though still afraid) , although I guess that made me pretty cowardly. It irked me that I felt this way, but I couldn't help it! If Hiei hadn't gotten there when he did... Come to think of it, if Hiei hadn't been there for me in multiple occasions, I would've been dead.

Really, what was with this lifestyle and constant life and death situations?

I groaned, face-down- I wish I could just forget that everything in the Makai hadn't happened. Of course, I was just being stupid unless Koenma really was able to wipe memories, like he'd threatened of doing to me so long ago. I blinked at the thought- I almost wanted to giggle. It was silly to me now. Back then, I'd been so weak and ignorant... I still went to school like a normal girl, I had a job with a manager who would give me pastries when she was having good days, I'd wait at home day after day for Mako to come back every once in a while, I _had _a home. It was practically a different life. I even remember feeling how all of this had felt like a dream of its own.

At one point though, it had somehow managed to switch: _that _life was the dream now, this one the reality. There was no way to ever go back to it, especially after that night when everything had gone up in flames... but...

I sighed, rolling onto my back. Was there something wrong with me? Sometimes I sincerely caught myself thinking like this because the fact of the matter was I'm not sure if I even missed it. Of course, the memories were no less painful and jarring, but I never could bring myself to wish to go back to before it all, but at the same time I wish what was happening now wasn't. Truth be told, I must've started thinking like this when I first arrived here last month.

Obviously my lifestyle had flipped upside down since then, but I couldn't deny that I didn't enjoy it. I could fend for myself now, I'd grown to love the forest and all the bizarre creatures I would come across during peaceful walks or adventures, I always looked forward to the evenings where Yukina and I usually would have fun deciding what to serve and even more when she would take the time to teach me about healing and medicine. I'd definitely grown more comfortable and looser with the gang and had enjoyed getting to know Genkai, from her tough-as-nails exterior to the kind, caring person she could be- I wanted to keep getting to know her. But most of all, if I had to pick one thing that I never wanted to give up, it was the late, reflective evenings that I would spend with Hiei just gazing at the stars.

It had been so _easy_ to fall into life here as if this was how it was meant to be. In such a short time, I'd come to find myself at home.

And that made me even guiltier than I already felt.

I sat up, running nervous fingers down my hair. Maybe... maybe I needed to get back to civilization. After all, it's not like things would be like this forever. I'd have to go back eventually, so might as well go now while it's still easy. I felt my spirit dampen.

I needed to get out of this funk! I would definitely miss life here, but there was nothing wrong with that. It would just be another one of those things in life.

_Besides,_ I thought hopefully, _I haven't visited Mako since I got here! I should really go and see him. Hopefully he's doing well._.. The last I saw him was at the hospital the night of the fire and under a deep sleep. It was times like these when I wish Mako hadn't been single! Although Koenma had said he didn't know when he'd wake up, maybe it could've worked like a fairy tale and kiss from his true love could have revived him!

I sighed, feeling stupid. It was probably good that he stayed asleep for now though, as terrible as that seemed. He was safer that way, but that didn't stop me from at least wanting to visit him.

Now I just had to figure out how to let them know that I wanted to go back let alone figure out the details of what I'd do when I got back. Oh well, one step at a time. I'd have to take the initiative and bring it up at dinner I suppose which I wasn't looking forward to.

Suddenly, there was a light drumming on the screen door and it slid open to reveal an anxious pair of pink eyes.

"Ren?" Botan said softly.

I gave her a small smile and scrambled on my feet, "Don't worry, I'm awake. Thanks for getting me."

~.~.~.~.~

_It's salty_... I thought distantly as I brought a small wad of rice to my mouth. _Hiei won't like this_... Since I was usually with Yukina when we prepared dinner, regardless what it was, I would usually try to add something a little sweet, but I'd never told Yukina directly outright, so it looks like Hiei was out of luck tonight. The only thing was, Hiei wasn't even here to find it distasteful. When I'd first noticed his absence, Kurama told me that he'd just gone on a walk an hour ago and hadn't returned yet. Even though he reassured me that he was fine and would probably be back soon, I couldn't help but feel a little worried.

"Ren? Do you not like it? You've barely touched your food." Yukina suddenly asked kindly, snapping me out of my introverted daze, "I can make you something else if you'd like."

I lowered my chopsticks and shook my head, "No, it's delicious! I just don't have much of an appetite right now." I answered honestly. The food was, of course, good and I was starving, but every time I tried to swallow it would stick in my throat. I just couldn't focus on being hungry- I was too nervous.

"Is there something on your mind? Do you feel ok?" Yukina asked in concern.

I smiled at her sweetness, touched by her concern, but steeled my nerves. Now was as good a time as any to express my thoughts.

"I'm fine, but," I started hesitantly and peeked at Koenma, "actually, I _was_ thinking about something." I took a small breath and took the plunge.

"Koenma, I was wondering if it was ok to go back tomorrow."

He became alarmed, "Back? To the Makai?"

I hurriedly corrected him with wide eyes, "No! No, I meant back down the mountain, to the city."

He still appeared concerned, but was obviously relieved. Even Kuwabara and Yusuke had stopped wrestling each other over the last piece of sushi to see what was going on. Kurama and Botan had paused eating to observe too. Genkai was the only one who continued as if she wasn't aware.

"Oh... for what?"

I flushed under all their gazes and said in slight embarrassment, "Well, I _do_ miss Mako and I guess I'm a little homesick. It has been a while," I wasn't really, but it sounded like a valid reason. Koenma crossed his arms, his brow furrowed in thought. I waited impatiently for his response but really didn't know what to expect because while he still looked concerned, he also looked guilty and unsure. Finally, he sighed.

"It's not like we're keeping you here against your will..."

"I didn't it mean it that way!" I said, nervous he'd taken it the wrong way, but he continued, crossing his arms.

"Maybe you're right; it might actually be a good thing to let you go back. Besides, Asami really has been too quiet lately. While it doesn't seem like the smartest idea, returning to the city might just be the move we need to make in order to proceed. What do you guys think?"

"I have no problem with going back. It'd be nice to go visit my mother." Kurama mused.

"Yeah, I told Shizuru that I'd be gone a while, so she's probably wondering when we'll be back." Kuwabara added. However, Yusuke semi-groaned.

"I told my mom and Keiko the same thing, but Keiko..." He shivered in fear at the thought.

"Don't you want to see her though?" Botan asked him.

"Well, yeah, but... I kind of told her that I'd check in every few days, except-"

"Of course, you haven't done it once." Botan rolled her eyes, "Yusuke! She's probably worried out of her mind by now! You should call her now at the very least."

Yusuke mumbled something that I couldn't catch, but I'm pretty sure it was something about being afraid of a demon. Personally though, I was surprised how smoothly my request was being taken. If anything, I had expected a strong opposition, but Koenma had practically agreed right off the bat.

"What about you Genkai? Do you think Ren's alright to go as she is?" Kurama suddenly asked Genkai and I was eager to hear her answer. If she vetoed against going back, I bet her reason would be more than valid, but instead she just calmly set down her bowl and shook her head.

"Her skills are definitely still lacking, but she should be fine as she is now. At least she can defend herself now."

I flushed with pleasure. That was it then- we were really going back, "When would it be best to go then?"

"Go where?" Grunted a voice behind me. Slowly, I turned around to spot Hiei, the one and only, standing at the door and staring down at us. Of all the things to forget...

_Oh boy..._

~.~.~.~.~

"Come on Hiei, stop pouting!" I whined, readjusting my pack. Hiei merely snorted and looked the other way. We were currently standing outside by the entryway to the shrine, waiting for Genkai and Koenma who hadn't come out yet. Otherwise, we were all prepared to make the brief journey back.

As expected, Hiei hadn't been easy to convince when I'd told him of my request, but I wouldn't be going anywhere without him and vice versa and majority had ruled already anyways so it didn't take much time for him to give up the useless fight. I knew that he was upset because he would have to abandon his training yet I couldn't help but secretly hope that, even if we hadn't been physically connected, that he would choose to come back with us anyways. Just having him near was what I had come to expect and I didn't want that to change.

"What's taking her so long?" Yusuke complained in annoyance, but remained ignored. Off to the side, Kuwabara was discussing silently with Yukina. It was much like when Hiei and I had spotted them together that one time coming back from the forest except by their body language, they seemed slightly sadder. I had a suspicion that it might've been half the reason Hiei was in such a bad mood, but at least there was one thing that he found agreeable. Yukina would be remaining here with Genkai like she usually did, meaning that Kuwabara and her would have to go their separate ways once again.

"Are you sure you can't come with us?" I asked Botan once again. I was sad enough that I would be leaving Yukina and Genkai, but to top it off I had to give up another familiar face. Apparently, there was unfinished business for Koenma that she had to attend to. She shook her head.

"But don't worry, hopefully it won't take long and I'll be back before you guys know it," she winked at me.

"Ah, here they come." Kurama said and there were Genkai and Koenma coming to see us off. Genkai was holding something small in her hands and when she reached us, she beckoned me forward and held out the small object she was holding to me. I inspected it curiously.

"What's this?" I held it up close- it was a necklace and at the end rested a small blue stone no bigger than a marble.

"You are to wear that at all times," she instructed, "I've laced the stone with a power to hold back your spirit energy should you ever find yourself in a situation where you find yourself losing control of it."

I eyed it warily, "Losing control?"

"As I was saying, you lack proper control of your spirit power, so this pendant is just a small precaution for that; it's just a small something to ensure your own safety."

It was really starting to hit me now, but I wasn't about to cry. I would really miss Genkai's strong company; I considered giving the old woman a hug, but decided that it would probably only make it awkward and uncomfortable for the both of us so I resolved to giving her a thankful smile and slipped the necklace over my head, tucking the stone into my shirt. I wondered if it was even working though since I didn't feel any different.

"Are we done here?" growled Hiei impatiently. I flashed him a sour look, but he promptly ignored me. I just sighed and nodded. Even Yukina and Kuwabara had rejoined us.

"I'm ready." I turned to give Yukina a final hug and told her to say goodbye to Puu for me. She nodded with a typical smile.

"Shall we?" Kurama smiled at them and turned to start down the steps, Hiei and I right behind him.

Yusuke groaned tiredly, throwing his arms behind his head, "We'll be seeing you guys then!" He called behind him to the four bidding us goodbye.

"Oh one more thing, Kazuma!" Yukina suddenly called. We all paused to turn, watching as Yukina came down several steps to meet Kuwabara who had his face crinkled in confusion. She was smiling brightly at him.

Suddenly, she grasped his face gently and reached up on her tip-toes to plant a sweet but short chaste kiss on his lips. She pulled back with a light blush and gave him a hug, giggling.

"Come back soon!" She said and went back to her place beside Botan who looked like she was about to explode.

Yusuke let out a small whoop and crept up behind Kuwabara- whose face was burning more red than his hair and was mumbling incoherently- to grab the back of his collar and say, "Come on, lover boy." before starting to drag him down the steps.

Blushing, my heart beating fast in embarrassment by their display of affection, I glanced at Hiei and had to bite my lip to keep the swelling fit of laughter inside.

He appeared to be in a state of pure agony and shock, frozen to the spot with his mouth agape like a fish. Kurama chuckled himself and copied Yusuke, grabbing the back of Hiei's collar.

"Again, shall we?" He grinned at me and I nodded with a giggle.

~.~.~.~.~

Other than keeping Hiei from murdering Kuwabara and keeping Kuwabara walking in a straight line, the lengthy trip back was fairly peaceful. Yusuke didn't make it any easier with his insistent teasing, but from what I could tell, Kuwabara could care less- he was obviously in his own little world. It was really Hiei who he was getting a rise out of. I'm not sure if I would _ever_ understand the relationship dynamic between Kuwabara, Hiei, and Yukina; then again, maybe I should be careful what I wished for.

Once we'd made it on the bus, I didn't speak much, which was ok, mostly because the others were wrapped up in their own conversation, but whether it was to avoid Kuwabara, get away from the others, or just because he wanted to, Hiei settled down next to me and we sat there in companionable silence for the rest of the way. However, when we finally made it back to the station, an unexpected surprise was waiting for us. Yusuke took one look and almost choked on the piece of candy he'd been chewing on.

"K-Keiko!"

Judging by his reaction and the look of horror on his face, I think it was safe to assume he never did get around to calling her. And as soon as he was off the bus, she didn't waste any time in showing him why he should have.

"YUSUKE, YOU JERK!" Oblivious to the strange looks innocent bystanders were shooting them, Keiko's open hand flashed like lightning and he went flying backwards, but she wasn't done there. Gripping his collar (though he was already K.O.) she shook him brutally. As Kuwabara and I cowered in fear, Hiei and Kurama merely smirked clearly not as worried for Yusuke's life like we were.

"You said a _little while_! Not an entire _month! _And you didn't call me once!" She shrieked, livid. "If Botan hadn't called me yesterday-" She was so mad she couldn't say another word and just growled, clenching his shirt even tighter. It explained how she knew to be here at least!

Despite my incredulity, I had to hide a small smile. Those two were obviously a match made in heaven... I just knew, without a doubt, that there was _no one_ else on Earth who could handle Yusuke like that. Not wanting to see him die on the spot, I laughed and called out her name.

Like a car would switch gears, Keiko paused and stood up, still holding Yusuke, and looked around her shoulder blinking curiously. Catching my eye, her face lit up and she unceremoniously dumped Yusuke like a bag of garbage and came to hug me with a laugh. Kuwabara crept around us and started poking Yusuke with the tip of his foot.

"I feel like I haven't seen any of you for so long!" She cried happily, "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back," I smiled. I was happy to see her, but my words had been more automatic than true.

"You guys must be tired," She continued, "Come on, let's get going. Oh wait, I just remembered!" She gripped my hands kindly; I just cocked my head in confusion.

"Botan told me about your problem, but don't worry one bit! You'll be staying with me!" She beamed and at first I was caught off guard. Amidst all the hilarity, where I would be staying completely slipped my mind. I squeezed her hands and smiled back.

"Would that really be alright? The last thing I want to be is a burden..." I said, slightly worried.

She just waved it off though, "Of course not, I've already asked my parents and they were perfectly fine with it. We have a spare room that you could stay in."

"Wow, thank you so much Keiko! You're an angel!" I said in excitement. I really had no idea where I would've stayed if she hadn't brought it up.

"_Angel?_ More like she-demon!" Yusuke whined, clutching his swollen cheek, but one look from her and he shut up.

I stepped back, realizing something, "Oh wait...where will you be staying Hiei? I might not be able to stay with her after all." It was true that the bond had definitely stretched out quite a distance by this point over the month at Genkai's, but I don't think it was long enough for Hiei to stay too far away. The last time I could tell, we could only move about 100 yards apart.

Kurama suddenly grinned and patted Hiei's shoulder, earning him a strange look from said fire demon and myself.

"Oh, no worries there. If memory serves correctly, I believe that Kuwabara's house is within that distance. I'm sure Shizuru, his sister, wouldn't mind in the least."

Hiei almost choked, "_WHAT!_ You _must _ be joking, Kurama!" I silently agreed.

"I don't want the shrimp in my house either! I wouldn't be able to sleep at night," Kuwabara came up from behind, jabbing a finger towards Hiei. I was scared that if he got to close Hiei might bite it off, which he seriously looked like he wanted to do and possibly more. From what I could tell, Hiei was still grudging against him for earlier and I'm not sure that Kuwabara understood that that was the reason he was so angry in the first place. To him, it must've just seemed like their typical at-odds attitude coming into play. Putting the two in one room didn't sound like the most ideal situation at the moment, but...

"Guys, I know it's a lot to ask," I said, putting my hands together, "But please? Just for a little bit until I can find somewhere else to stay. I'll start looking as soon as I can!" I was talking to both of them, but was really directing it towards Hiei. I imagined that he was definitely the one who would need the most persuading.

Kuwabara groaned and huffed, but Hiei looked like he was in downright pain as he weighed his options. I stared at him with big, hopeful eyes. In the end (after a lengthy, stubborn period), a small smile lit my face as he growled, crossed his arms, and looked away, giving in. My automatic response would've been to give him a hug, but I wasn't about to risk the victory.

I giggled and crossed my fingers. They would need the good luck.

~.~.~.~.~

"This is where you'll be staying! I'm sorry that it's a little small..." Keiko waited for me to step in before jogging across the small room to open the small window.

"No, this is perfect..." I said as I noted the surroundings. The walls were a plain, soft yellow and the floor was covered in tatami mats. There was no bed, but to the left a set of cabinets lined the wall and under the small window rested a small table and chair. It was very nice and quaint. Pushing the table and chair aside, Keiko grunted lightly as she pulled on the window sill. It came open with a pop and a tiny stirring of dust. I felt bad for the small, unused room- the view of the sunset was breathtaking.

Waving the dust away, she looked back at me with a smile, "We can just keep that open for a bit so the room can get some fresh air. It's been a while since we've used it, but my mom helped me with the dusting earlier, so it's not too bad." She gripped the knob of the first cabinet and tugged it open.

"Ah ha! I wasn't sure if Mom had moved the futon, but no worries there. It can get a bit chilly later at night so if you ever need an extra blanket, just let me know. So there that is, and..." she proceeded to show me the rest of the cabinets that were mostly used for storage, except two small drawers and a single unit that she told me that I could use for my own things, although I didn't really have any to put in them except the donated clothes from Yukina and Botan that I'd been making due with for the past month.

I must've let a solemn look escape onto my face because she raised her hand to her mouth, "Oh Ren... It completely slipped my mind." She was talking about the fire and I tried to tell her it was alright, but she just shook her head firmly, "Well this is just unacceptable! Don't worry though, as soon as we get the chance we'll have to go out and get you some things to put in here!"

"Oh, there's no need for that Keiko and I wouldn't want you to spend your money on that." I protested but she just laughed.

"It's fine! And don't worry, Yusuke owes me _big time_ anyways!" She winked at me and closed the cabinet doors. I would've definitely thought that Yusuke was the luckiest guy in the world, but, for at the very least this moment, he seemed out of luck...

"Oh!" Keiko gasped, eyes wide, "I forgot to get your towels! If you want Ren, you can starting setting up the futon and I'll draw you a bath while I'm at it. You look like you're about to collapse."

I agreed and proceeded to pulling out the futon after she left. I really had been feeling sluggish since getting here. Handling a sulky Hiei was absolutely exhausting. I flipped onto the squishy padding and sighed in bliss as my sore muscles gradually relaxed. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually had a peaceful, worry-free, moment to myself.

After a few moments of the silence though I frowned. Something just didn't feel...right. Sitting back up, I looked around. There was nothing out of the norm. I felt the pendent around my neck- it was still there, secure as before. I don't think I was missing anything...

Still, the feeling didn't go away. Jeez, who was I kidding? There hadn't been one time since meeting Hiei and everyone else that I hadn't been worried.

Then it hit me. I'm almost surprised that I hadn't realized sooner, but what did surprise me was how heavy the truth felt around my heart.

This would be the first night I would spend without Hiei nearby. Even now, Hiei felt far away through the bond and I had no idea how far Kuwabara's house was from here... plus, the boys had left me with Keiko well over an hour ago. Of course we've been separated, especially during the time in the Makai, but that hadn't even been a conscious decision of mine. But in reality, my freshest memories were filled to the brim of our days together in the mountains and before. Every single one was a vivid, clear picture in my mind- Hiei did leave quite the impression, after all.**

Flushing slightly, I rolled onto my side, wanting to dismiss the thought, but it refused to go away. I squeezed the pillow, then threw it across the room in unrest. I groaned, suddenly restless.

It just felt abnormal without him close by. He'd become like a habit to me...That was what I told myself at least.

I know I had been the one to encourage Hiei to stay at Kuwabara's, but now I wish I hadn't. It practically wasn't right to not have him by my side, I thought firmly. That was the only justification I was brave enough to conjure.

Suddenly, a small voice from my brain began whispering to me, and I tried to block it out with a growing flush, but it wouldn't go away. After a futile battle of trying to suppress it, I groaned in defeat and could only wait in misery for Keiko to come back.

_I already miss you, Hiei..._

~.~.~.~.~

_Meanwhile with the Kuwabara household..._

Shizuru could only glance back and forth, chopsticks in her mouth, at her oblivious brother and guest as they seemed to be caught in some kind of sudden-death stare lockdown, dinner forgotten in their hands. She chewed slowly, mildly entertained, but quickly growing bored of the event which had been going on for approximately five minutes already.

After a minute more, she finally rolled her eyes and started collecting her things, "Well, this has been fun, but I'm going to take a bath. Make sure you kiddos don't kill each other. I don't feel like cleaning blood out of the carpet today."

Hiei and Kuwabara didn't seem to hear her- which didn't really surprise her- even after she long left the room. The air crackled with tension as red burned into dark brown and vice versa. Neither dared to give in, except-

Suddenly, Hiei felt a very familiar, yet faint, twinge at the back of his mind and his eyes flickered in light surprise. The tension was brutally destroyed as Kuwabara slammed his utensils down, flinging his food in all directions, and stood up with both arms out in victory.

"HA! How about _that_ you damn runt- huh? Hiei?" In his brief moment of triumph, Kuwabara had completely missed Hiei's quick escape through the room he'd be staying in. Kuwabara completely out of mind, Hiei grew increasingly irritated as the twinge seemed only to grow fainter and fainter the more he tried to grasp at it. It was like trying to catch the end of a wispy string. As if from far away, he could only barely make out Shizuru's growling fit of rage and Kuwabara's cries as she discovered the food that had been scattered on her carpet.

The more he tried to have a firmer grip, the more evasive the connection was. It was becoming maddening, and Hiei even growled out loud.

_This is ridiculous! If Kurama hadn't insisted on this arrangement... and Ren even supported it! Doesn't that idiot know how vulnerable she is without protection? Something could happen and there would be no one there..._

Despite what Ren always seemed to be telling him now these days, Hiei wasn't about to relent one bit on the fixed thought that she couldn't take adequate care of herself (he refused to accept his humiliating defeat from several days ago and had already buried it away in the recesses of his mind where it still festered like a small sore). The more he thought about it, the more irritable he became until he could barely stand it. His mind was filling itself with all kinds of worse case scenarios and compromising situations.

He didn't even realize he'd been pacing until he paused when his eyes caught sight of the large window practically encouraging him to take his leave and satisfy his agitation. As he neared the end of the room, he could even feel the bond becoming a bit easier to latch on to, but it wouldn't be good enough until he was firmly connected. Sliding the glass pane open with a quick sweep, he didn't waste another moment and promptly leapt over the sill, landing soundly on the damp grass.

Albeit his current state, with skillful stealth, Hiei blended naturally into the shadows like the thief his former self had been.

Within a time span of 15 minutes or so, even in the dark, Hiei easily recognized the Yukimura Ramen shop. He could practically feel Ren's energy coursing through him at this point- it was what had guided him here after all. Continuing to follow the invisible pull, Hiei circled around the house and gazed upward, noticing a small, open window.

_Is she truly that stupid to just leave her window open and unguarded? _He thought sourly. With a well timed jump, Hiei scaled the side of the house, barely conscious of the fact that if he made a wrong move, he could actually hurt himself, but he hadn't spent the last month doing nothing. Though still unable to even remotely access a fraction of his true powers, he'd concentrated on developing his physical strength and sword skill. Once he had his _ki_ back, he might even be able to look back on the experience as worth it. _Might._

Hiei made it to the window quickly and paused, blinking. The bond was comfortably strong by this point, but what made him stop was the slumbering figure encased in a mound of blankets. After waiting to be sure that she was definitely sound asleep, Hiei slid into the room and silently crossed until he was kneeling beside her. Her damp hair was fanned around her and she shivered lightly. Hiei scoffed to himself.

_This idiot... she can't even take care of herself._ He carefully pulled the extra blankets upwards and after a thoughtful moment of just looking at her face, slowly brushed a few strands of hair from her face, the tips of his fingers lingering.

He froze when she started stirring, snapping his hand back like he was stung, and darted to the window. He leapt out and literally hung from the window by only his fingers tips as Ren sat up, startled awake.

Heart beating wildly, Ren still felt the ghost fingers touching her face and the trace of warmth that had been left from them. Sliding out of the futon, she dared not imagine of whom she had instantly thought of. _Hiei_...?

Suddenly there was a harsh scuffling at the window and Ren darted over to it, leaning out.

"Hiei?" She cried out in alarm.

However, there was no one there. She looked around to the nearest tree, the ground, and even the corners of the house, but still nothing. She breathed deeply. _Fantastic, now I'm imagining him..._ Even the bond felt stronger to her. After checking again, then another time, she finally sighed and shut the window. Crawling under the covers, she willed herself to fall asleep again- with luck, the dream she'd been having might return. Her breathing quickly evened out into a soft, rhythmic sigh.

As Ren returned to unconsciousness, Hiei let out a breath he'd been holding for the entire time since she'd stuck her head out the window. He'd attempted to escape by leaping to the side, but of course, his fingers had to slip and he would've almost fallen if he hadn't been able to regain his grip on the wall and barely climb over the window, taking hold on the edge of the roof.

Being especially careful now, he slowly hoisted himself over the edge until he was full on the roof. With a tired groan, he rolled onto his back and gazed at the stars.

A light chuckle from behind made Hiei scramble up, but upon noticing the scarlet hair in the moonlight, Hiei merely pressed his lips together and abruptly turned away.

"To be frank Hiei, I'm a bit surprised to see you here. Weren't you supposed to be with Kuwabara?"

Even without looking, Hiei could _hear_ the fox's grin as he spoke.

"What are you doing here Kurama?" he asked brusquely.

"On the contrary, shouldn't I be asking _you_ that?" Kurama waited, although if he had learned anything over the time spent with Hiei, he didn't really expect any kind of answer whatsoever.

So that was why when he actually _did_ answer, Kurama was struck.

"Hn... I didn't want anything to happen to her." He answered quietly.

Kurama blinked, "... I see."

There was a pause, then Hiei growled, "There, I answered your question. I deserve to know the answer to mine now."

Kurama smiled quietly to himself, "Calm down, Hiei. It would have been much too dangerous to just leave her unattended. We never considered to leave her completely on her own. Those were orders directly from Koenma, but I see you've gotten ahead of yourself."

Flushing, Hiei scowled and didn't say anything. Kurama settled himself down, leaning against the chimney and together, they rested under the stars in peace.

~.~.~.~.~

There was only joy radiating from her face. Any and every worry didn't exist in that brief moment as time slowed down- Riku around the side of the mansion, weary, but eyes bright, then Kuri, already running.

Riku dropped his belongings and opened his arms just as Kuri grabbed onto him in a full-out tackle. She was laughing and smiling, looking absolutely beautiful and outrageously happy.

And when everything else seemed to fade from their world, Riku pulled her fingers into his and ducked down towards her face, closer and closer until...

I woke up in dread.

~.~.~.~.~

"Why do you keep fidgeting?" Hiei asked in annoyance.

I clutched the small bouquet of flowers a little tighter and sighed, "Sorry- just nervous."

"Hn."

I don't know why I was feeling so nervous, since there was no reason to really be, but it had just been so long since seeing Mako... I knew what to expect, but I felt like this nonetheless. It's not like I was about to turn back either because I did really want to see him. Besides, we were only about a block away from the hospital already.

I glanced down at the bundle of orange lilies in my hands, enjoying the aesthetic way each of the smooth petals licked outwards, each bloom a mini sun. It had been Keiko's idea to get Mako some flowers, but I was horrible at making decisions so after spending fruitless time trying to decide, Hiei finally chose for me. They were beautiful and I found them entirely to appropriate. They reminded me of Hiei's eyes, too.

We wouldn't be staying long- there would be no reason to since Mako was still in a coma and Kurama had told me that the quicker I was, the more safer off Mako and I would be, which made sense. We had no idea where any of our enemies were or if they even knew we were back, but it was better off that they didn't know until at least I'd finished my visit.

I was grateful that none of the others had insisted on accompanying me, respecting my privacy, except Hiei of course who was bound to me, but that was beside the point. Even if we hadn't been, I'd have still wanted him by my side. I felt like I needed a pillar of strength right now.

Entering the hospital, I led the way, remembering Mako's room number. I paused just outside of it, finding it hard to breathe.

However, when Hiei gently touched my wrist, I felt his warmth surge through his fingertips and shooting him a grateful smile, we went inside.

I didn't really know how to feel. I was relieved, sad, happy, guilty, and so many other things. There he was, as if he were just sleeping, just as we'd left him on that fiery night. Nothing had changed- I'm not sure if I had expected anything to.

Coming over to his side, I gingerly placed the flowers on his bedside table and then sat on the edge of his bed. As for Hiei, he remained silent, minding my space by placing himself a bit away, but close enough for comfort. He leaned against the wall, eyes closed, serene.

The tears were coming up now, but I would not let them fall. I'd done enough crying.

"Hi Mako," I whispered quietly, "I'm not sure if you can hear me or not, but..." It was hard to go on. I picked up his cold hand, gripping it tightly, but not enough where I think it would hurt, "I'm sorry I haven't visited in so long. You must've been lonely, or maybe you're just having a really long dream. If that's the case, I hope they're filled with really good things. I brought flowers, you know. They're really beautiful- Hiei was the one who picked them out because I couldn't decide, and I..." I began to ramble randomly, about coming back down and how Keiko was letting me stay with her, about the mountains and Genkai, and I even touched upon the Makai although I didn't go into much detail, just in case he really did hear me. Not until Hiei touched my shoulder to let me know that we'd been here long enough did I stop.

Giving Mako's hand one last squeeze, I lay a gentle kiss on his forehead, muttered a heavy goodbye and allowed Hiei to grab my hand and lead me out. Eventually, I felt myself perk up again and gave his hand a grateful squeeze. Hiei, startled, flushed and avoided my gaze. Smiling softly, I started teasing him about his face to which he vehemently denied, considerably lightening up the mood.

Even after we had left the hospital, he didn't let go.

~.~.~.~.~

We had agreed with the others earlier to meet up for lunch, but Hiei and I were a bit early so we went ahead and sat down at a booth. I ordered myself a water and tea for Hiei.

As we waited, silence took over and as Hiei sipped on his tea, thoughtfully gazing out the window, I sat on the other side, my mind veering off in different tangents. I was acting as natural as I could, but inside I was acting like a silly little girl.

_I want to say something, but I don't know what to say! Why am I so nervous all over again? With the hand holding, the flowers _- though they weren't exactly for me- _, and now the diner... It almost feels like we're on a... date...?_

I flushed bright red just in time for him to glance my way.

"What's wrong with you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"N-nothing," I squeaked and tackled the straw, taking a long unrelenting sip of water in a bad attempt to cool off.

He stared at me head on, "What is it?"

"I said it was nothing!"

"You're lying," he narrowed his eyes and I pursed my lips.

"No, you are!" I suddenly countered, out of ideas.

He blinked in confusion, obviously caught off guard, "...what? That makes no sense, idiot."

"I know you are, but what am I?"

Hiei set down his cup, a scowl growing on his face, "If this is some kind of 'joke' then-"

"Hey guys!" Keiko exclaimed, sliding next to me. I started in surprise, just noticing Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara also sliding into the booth, Yusuke next to Keiko and the other two with Hiei.

"Sorry, hope we weren't interrupting anything," she said with a small grin.

Hiei just "Hn'd!" and I blushed, shaking my head.

"No, there was nothing to interrupt," I said.

Kurama, next to Hiei, was also grinning, but didn't say anything except asking me how my uncle was.

The next hour flew by. Between Kuwabara and Yusuke's contest on who could drink their floats the fastest and Hiei's obvious ignorance of fast food, I'd never laughed so hard. By the time we left, even Hiei had a small, yet content grin on his face.

His arm around Keiko's shoulders, Yusuke suddenly paused.

"What's up?" Keiko asked curiously and we all looked as Yusuke pointed across the street, a goofy grin lighting his face. It was hard to miss the theatre with its frame of lights, the title _Twilight_ glowing.

"We've got time to kill. Let's go watch a movie," Yusuke said cheerfully. Kuwabara frowned and flinched away.

"Oh _Kami_, Urameshi! You do _not_ want to see that! I've heard...," Here he narrowed his eyes,"_...things_ about it."

Keiko shrugged, smiling, "It can't be that bad. Let's give it a shot,"

Kurama smiled pleasantly, "I can't remember the last time I've been to the theatre."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt, it could be fun." I said then glanced at Hiei who was intently inspecting the sign, "What do you think Hiei?"

He scowled, "What a waste of time."

I rolled my eyes, tugging on his arm, "Who knows, you might actually like it!"

_122 interesting minutes later..._

As soon as they were outside, Yusuke fell on all fours, whimpering.

"I've lost faith in humanity..."

Kuwabara slid down right next to him, silent tears streaming down his face.

"I told you it was a bad idea..."

Keiko rolled her eyes at their dramatic display, muttering quietly under her breath, "It wasn't _that _bad..."

I gazed into Hiei's lifeless eyes somberly and could only say, "You were right, Hiei."

Kurama merely chuckled at them all. Apparently, he'd already gone to see it with a lady friend his mother had tried setting him up with, so he'd been mentally prepared. It had only been for his own sadistic pleasure to not forewarn the rest of them.

Getting back up and grabbing Keiko's hand, Yusuke sighed in sadness, "We should get out of here before I decide to jump off the nearest building." Keiko smacked him lightly, but the rest of us could only silently agree.

Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad... or, it really was, but I was happy even so. For the past few hours, we'd really had the chance of being normal people, going out to eat, having fun, and watching terrible movies, but I guess I should've known better than to expect anything but something bad to happen soon after.

As we walked through the typical crowd of people, it was the sudden flick of a tail that first caught my eye.

_That was...! _

I paused, not sure if I'd really seen anything, but my growing fear was only confirmed when I noticed the rest of the boys suddenly tensing. I leaned into Hiei, nervous.

"Hiei..." I muttered, but his face was grim as well.

"I know," He responded quietly and exchanged serious looks with the others. Keiko sensed the sudden change of mood and gazed at Yusuke worriedly.

"Yusuke...?" she began hesitantly, but he just pulled his arm away from her shoulders, staring intently in a fixed direction.

"Keiko," he said seriously, "I need you to wait here."

Keiko immediately began to protest, but thought it over and backed down, "O-ok..."

Hiei looked at me just as serious, "You should stay with her."

"What? But I can't just-" I started to argue, but seeing the growing look of worry on Keiko's face, I could only look back at Hiei with my own swelling sense of dread. _No... why is this happening? We were having such a nice time..._

"Don't go anywhere," Hiei commanded and I nodded slowly, pulling Keiko down on a bench beside me. They disappeared into the crowd, abandoning the two of us.

I was completely on edge, but it was all I could do to keep Keiko comforted. I continued to stare at the spot where the boys had disappeared, feeling increasingly sick as the seconds ticked by.

Just as I was about to really forget waiting and go looking for them, suddenly they burst through the crowds. My immediate relief at seeing them ok and unharmed was almost immediately replaced with an ill wave of despair at the alarmed look on all their faces. Kuwabara's face was pale and frantic and Hiei's was beyond livid.

I instantly knew there was no time to waste. Whatever had happened- it was definitely bad.

"We need to get to Spirit World _now._" Yusuke said and gripped Keiko's shoulders tightly.

"Go straight home, ok?" He told her seriously and she nodded without a word.

I pretended to not notice Hiei's fixed gaze towards me, but when he finally tried telling me the same thing I immediately snapped back.

"Don't be ridiculous Hiei! If I stay here, you can't go either. Whatever's going on, I'm involved too! So don't try saying anything otherwise."

Already upset, he looked away distraught, unable to deny the truth.

"Yusuke, what's going on...?" Keiko asked weakly just before we could go, but Yusuke just shook his head.

"Sorry, Keiko... I'll be back soon this time." He said earnestly. She didn't say anything, her eyes shining.

"Come, we have no time to lose," Kurama said quickly and we all nodded, beginning to follow after him.

"Wait, Yusuke!" Keiko said once more and Yusuke groaned out loud, turning once more.

"What Keiko? I already said I'd be-"

He was abruptly cut off when Keiko crashed into him, stealing a short, but earnest kiss from his lips. She pulled away from him with a blush, but anxious look on her face.

"_Promise _me that you'll be careful, ok?" She said quickly. He was stunned for a second before a tender look entered his eyes and he embraced her firmly.

"I promise."

My heart went out to the pained look on Keiko's face and I could see Hiei shooting a glance at me, but there was no time to lose and there was no way I couldn't go. With one last fleeting glance, we darted away from the crowded plaza, all traces of our good time already forgotten.

* * *

><p>*Originally (if anyone can remember this far back xD) in chapter 3, I had implied that Botan was 150+ years old, but I don't really know what I was thinking and have promptly changed that c: Sorry for any confusion! I've changed it so that she's around 30-ish or so. Anyways, it really isn't that important, just thought I would clarify!<p>

**Squeeee~! xD Hahaha! I was able to put the title into the story! Yay! (feeling proud B3 )

BAHAHA! I'm sorry xD I couldn't resist the opportunity to Twilight bash *avoids flying cows* Hey! Don't throw cows at me! So what if it's unoriginal? :I I wanted to put some kind of poll up for fun, but I really really just wanted to upload the chapter, so you should be thanking me! *avoids more cows*

So... yeah... :I

I'm SO SORRY! "OTL There are no excuses that I could possibly give to justify anything... T-T

Did you know we literally have less than 10 chapters left?! o_O So please hang in there with me! ;A;

But OMG... 20 reviews for the last chapter alone?! Wahhh! ;A; so many manly tears guys (coughiamnotamancough)... Seriously, I love you all ;_; Thank you so, so much. Without you guys, there's _no way_ I would be able to write any of this.

With so much love! InuChimera7410

Review Responses:

**HiiChan711: **WAHHHHHH! ;A; I'M SORRY! OTL and HAHAHA! xD No! coughiwishcoughcough... Thank you for the great review xD

**Xealah: **:'D Wow, thank you so much! Too... many...tears! ;_; I won't stop for anything!... It just takes a while sometimes... OTL...

**Guest(s): **(Sorry, I wish I could discern who's who!) To Guest #1: He's my number 1 Sexy man too! Hiei forever o_o I'm so glad you like it so much :'D I hope you enjoyed the chapter... but what do you think could happen next?! *Dramatic pose* To Guest #2: I'm just going to say that Mukuro was able to sense something within Ren that no one else knows anything about... I'm hoping that when whatever "it" is, it'll make sense! And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! Although it's closer to Valentine's day... ;_;

**DDragonWhisper: **Haha, I liked that line too! :D Yay! I'm glad you think he wasn't OOC... there's only so much to go on... Thank you for your review!

**SkySpitter12: **I'm sorry you had to wait so long ;A; But I hope I didn't let you down with this chapter!

** : **Haha, why thank you! I'm glad I can be unexpected in my story :D My goal as an author is to keep my audience guessing at every turn and your review just comforts me that I might be doing okay with that! Thank you so much!

**kaguya26: **:'D I don't know, but that seriously made me happy! Unfortunately, it will end sometime xD But I hope you stick around till then! And then I'm planning to make a series of omakes based around this story, so maybe you even have that to look forward to ;D And I know! When I think of Hiei, I totally fan girl ;A;

**ShadowDragon22: **I'm sorry you've had to wait so long! I hope you liked the chapter though :) Thank you so much for the review!

**sammycrusinix: **Uwaah! o_o Shaking?! :'D I'm so sorry for not update much much sooner! Thank you for the review!

**Lux: **Hi! I'm doing very well, thank you :D and YAY! Obsession is AWESOME! I really want to cry with how great and totally awesome your review was... I can't think of anything except to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! And shower you with rainbows and cute kittens and more awesome things! :'3

**sailorangelmoon1:** yes! It's always a victory when I can keep my readers entertained and guessing :3 Sorry it's taken so long to update!;A;

**Just 2 Dream of You: **;A; I love you too... *throws plushies and candy and rainbows at you*

**Kshepps27: **Wow, thank you! :D I'm so touched... :'D Thank you so so much for your great review!

**sherlaylay: **Thank you! :D Mukuro's a pretty complicated gal though... It leaves you wondering what she was thinking while acting like that o_o Thank you for the review! :D

**stacikate16: **Hahaha... OTL... this wasn't soon at all... But thank you so much for the review!

**Tay: **Haha, yeah Mukuro _is_ like a mini-villain! Hm... I didn't really plan more of her till the very end, and even then I don't think I planned much of her... :x I'm sorry! But yes, Hiei _is_ pretty protective of her huh? ;D Muahaha... I hope you liked the chapter!

**DemonMiko Jenna: **I remember that review! xD You're just too awesome... And I guess it does...in that ancestral, non-logical way xD Thank you for the review!

**FireStorm1991: **Yay, I'm glad it was a surprise! And I know, that Mukuro -_- ... what are we going to do about her?! But we'll just say that Mukuro sensed something that no one else has noticed, so maybe she even had a reason to be mean...? :x I'm not saying anymore xD

**dragoscilvio:** I'm sorry ;_; I actually did remember that heartbeat fact when trying to decide to write that part, but I just wanted him to have a heartbeat so badly during that moment, that I gave him one OTL... *bad writer is bad...* And it's fine c: I appreciate the review regardless! Each chapter, they're relationship progresses little be little, mostly because Hiei's tsundere and Ren's in denial, but what can you do? Rather than the writer, I'm more like the one who writes down what the story wants to happen o_o and I know what you mean about Hiei and romance *sigh* but on another note, you're my 150th review! :D :D That means that you will be getting your own one-shot dedication! Anything specific you'd like?


	19. Double Cross

SURPRISE! I'm alive! :D

...

I...I'm so ashamed of myself ;A; *goes to cry in a corner*

Thank you so much for all of my loyal and new reviewers last chapter, as always! And to those few who actually bothered to PM me to tell me to get a move on, THANK YOU! I really need a good shouting at :3 Every single chapter is completely and whole-heartedly dedicated to you guys and everyone else who takes time to read! :D

Anyways, let's get on with it *coughfinallycough*! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 19: Double Cross<p>

"Yukina _and_ Botan?" I exclaimed, not believing my ears, as my entire body turned cold. "But… no, there's no way..." I trailed off, the shock settling in slow and thick.

Koenma buried his face in his hands, the traces of a faint purpling beneath his red-tinged eyes. I was aware that Koenma had outlived all of us by at least several millennia despite his appearance, but now the age and years of burden seemed to cast his face in a ghostly shadow. "I'm afraid it's the truth..." he said and added bitterly, "And I'd dared to think that things couldn't get any worse."

I jumped when Kuwabara slammed his hands down onto Koenma's cluttered desk, sending packets of paper flying, though no one paid attention. His entire frame was shaking in anger, "Then what the hell are we waiting for? I don't give a damn about what that cat said- I'm going to murder that Asami myself, even if she is a woman!"

"Kuwabara makes a good point-" Hiei spat, "You really are a fool if you believe that we're just going to sit around here and do _nothing._"

Yusuke had kept strangely quiet as the three men argued, but when he spoke, his words were calm and solemn.

"Calm down guys- screaming at each other isn't going to help us or the girls." he said, keeping composed. "Aya said that they wouldn't be harmed."

"And we're just going to _believe_ that?" Hiei exclaimed in outrage.

Only worse case scenarios flashed through my own head. Even if what Aya and Itsuki had told the boys was the truth, how long would it stay that way? How had they been taken in the first place? An image of Botan and Yukina, scared and hurt in a dingy cell, flashed through my mind; I squeezed my eyes in a feeble attempt to shut out similar, proceeding visions.

"Enough Hiei; Yusuke's right. Getting angry won't help the situation at all. Right now especially, we must not allow ourselves to lose our heads." Kurama said coolly although his demeanor told us otherwise. The entire group had grown very tense.

Hiei's hands were practically trembling in aggravation and catching a glimpse of Genkai who was standing of to the side, he lashed at her in another fit of anger. She didn't even flinch when he abruptly came down on her.

"Hiei," I cried out, grabbing his arm to rein him in. He was breathing heavily, glaring down at the old woman.

"How could you let this happen? They were under your protection!"

Genkai had been brooding to herself after Kuwabara had started going off and only now did she finally look up, the hard look in her eye boring deep into Hiei.

"Shut your trap," she scowled, "I already told you what I know. They went on a walk because Yukina was running low on her herbs supply and Botan accompanied her. By the time I sensed anything wrong, it was already too late. All that was left was her basket and this," she held up a long and sleek object.

I paled at the very sight of it- it was a black feather. I gripped Hiei's arm harder as understanding settled in.

"Those birds," I muttered vacantly, remembering as if from long ago Hiei and I battling the black horde of cacophonous birds in the forest. "Kurama, didn't you say that they had just been random demon birds…?"

Kurama grimaced silently, "I was wrong."

"And that's not it," Hiei muttered icily. He crunched the feather in his hand. "This only proves that they knew where we were and what we were doing this whole time."

My mouth went dry like sandpaper. He was right.

Koenma frowned, "I should've been expecting something. They were so quiet the past month."

Hiei's fist slammed down onto Koenma's desk and the look on his face practically tore me apart. I'd never seen him so openly stressed before. Regardless of what seemed to come our way, I don't think there was one time where Hiei had let his composure drop so much.

"So let's _go_, damn it!" He snarled, "Are you waiting for something else to happen? Yukina is in grave danger!" His words punctured deeply, but Koenma only glared in return.

"Botan's in danger too! And don't you think I'm doing everything I can?"Koenma stressed, "Of course I'm doing everything possible to find them but-"

"Obviously it's not enough!" Hiei retaliated sharply, but before he could continue on his tirade, there was a light chuckle.

"Tsk, tsk. Such temper." My stomach plummeted as if I'd been cast over an edge. Slowly, the entire party turned to cast our eyes on the single figure resting casually against the door, his enormous scythe typically tossed over his shoulder. He was smirking.

Kuro nodded in our direction, his black eyes grinning, "Hey."

No one moved until Koenma rose from his seat carefully, shock hidden with a bad mask of calm, "How did you get in here?"

Kuro looked at him strangely, "Um, I used the door." He pointed at the door.

Kurama spoke tautly, "Where have you taken them?" His words broke the spell of the group's shock and I could feel them all begin to bristle with anger and energy. They all shifted in an offensive position, nerves on end. Hiei put himself in front of me, pushing me back.

Kuro grinned lazily, "Hm?"

Yusuke cocked his finger, glaring at Kuro who'd yet to move or even seem to recognize the fact that he was outnumbered. He only stared back.

Yusuke started to yell, "Cut the bull shit. Speak now or I'll just beat you black and blue until you do."

Kuro raised a fine white eyebrow, his silver hair shimmering in the light, "Relax. If you would just be patient, you would've known that I was about to." Slowly and with exaggeration, Kuro set down his scythe and lifted his arms to stretch, twisting until his back popped. "Hold on a sec though, would you? I've got this ache -"

Kuwabara couldn't hold it anymore. Whipping out his spirit sword, he charged Kuro and swung down. "I'm done with you, bastard!"

Kurama had reached out to stop him, but Kuwabara had practically leaped across the room, but there had been no point in even trying. As soon as Kuwabara had struck down, Kuro had vanished into thin air. Kuwabara looked around, confused and angry.

"Where did he go?"

"You might want to try using your brain- if you actually have one, that is." His voice was suddenly _close_.

I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. Suddenly, cold hands were wrapping around my waist, tightening gently as if in an embrace. His hand then pressed lightly against my side- something slid down his fingers.

I was just short of a scream before Hiei whirled around, but Kuro's hands had already slithered away. Whipping around, I only caught half of his smirk as he melted into another shadow.

"Before you try to attack me again- and fail miserably- might I add that I'm probably the only hope you have in ever getting the girls back safe and sound again?" This time he was sitting cross-legged against Koenma's desk.

With a sarcastic snort, Yusuke pulled down his spirit gun and Kuwabara's sword evaporated.

"What have you done with them?" Hiei demanded. I stayed right behind him this time, my eyes never leaving Kuro. Nowhere was safe from him.

"If you've done _anything_ to either of them, I swear we'll rip you apart right now!" Kuwabara added.

Kuro just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, okay. But you don't have to worry. For now, they're fine... As long as we choose to keep them as such." He chuckled, but it only made the rest of the room angrier. "But I haven't exactly come here for a nice chat. No, I came here to leave a message from Asami." He looked at each one of them as he spoke, but when his gaze finally came to rest on mine, for a split second I couldn't breathe. I held his stare for a beat longer and then the corners of his mouth twitched and he finished his sweep.

I hadn't needed the gesture. Asami had left a message for _me_.

"Asami has invited you all to her palace." He started.

Hiei growled viciously, "And if we refuse?"

Kuro continued on, "There is no refusal. I'm sure you're smart enough to even understand that. The ice maiden and ferry girl's well-being rely on your presence, I assure you."

There was no warmth in Kurama's green eyes as he stared at the small apparition, "Very well and what are we to do once we're there?"

"Patience, Kurama." Kuro chided, "One step at a time. Go to the local park and yeah, be there at midnight. Cliché, I know, but it _is_ most convenient for Minoru. Don't keep him waiting."

Though for only one second, I shivered as his eyes flickered to mine once more. I could still feel the press of his hands against me- I stuck my hand in my pocket, thumbing the small slip of paper he'd planted and remained silent.

"Now, if you'll excuse me- you know, places to see, people to kill, Asami's dirty work to do... " Kuro made to get up, dusting himself off.

"If you're trying to lure us into a trap, you must really think we're stupid." Kuwabara shouted at him, having no intention of letting him leave.

Kuro only snorted, "Please, you're not even worth it." He stepped closer to the shadows.

"Wait," Hiei snarled, "For all we know, it could really be a trap, and we'd be walking right into it. Why should we have any reason to trust you?"

Kuro paused, slowly stepping into the shadow. Suddenly, the darkness began to writhe and churn, slowly sucking him in. Yet before he had vanished completely, he grinned.

"You don't- but you're going to let _that_ stop you?" Then he was gone.

~.~.~.~.~

It was already nine and we hadn't achieved anything. We'd come back to Kuwabara's house, and I was just quietly sitting in the background, watching the boys bicker meaninglessly. Hiei couldn't be patient and Kuwabara was near out of his mind with worry. Kurama remained tense and thoughtful, and Yusuke was just unnecessarily loud when he shouted. Besides the fact that it didn't change the situation in any way, all their yelling only succeeded at giving me a headache.

Feeling desperate to escape, I got up and slipped away from the chaos, retreating to the bathroom and locking it behind me. Now able to hear my own thoughts again, I slid down against the wall, breathing deeply.

The heavy weight on my chest that had come from earlier wouldn't go away- I still shuddered every time I imagine Kuro's hands touching me. I dipped my hand into my pocket _again_, feeling the smooth surface of the piece of paper Kuro had slipped me. I still hadn't read it. I was too afraid.

But twelve was coming quickly and Botan and Yukina's lives were at stake. I had to be brave now, for them at the very least. And for myself.

I tugged the folded slip out and used my thumbs to smooth it out. Though my heart was beating wildly, I had to do my best to stay calm unless I wanted Hiei to sense anything wrong. Since Kuro had gone through the very deliberate trouble of secretly passing this to me, I'd immediately gotten the message that disclosing it to anyone else was not recommended. Yet, holding the piece of paper now, I suddenly felt so alone and vulnerable- feelings of guilt churned hotly in my stomach and the need to share what was happening with someone almost consumed me, but I restrained myself.

Since the beginning, I'd been selfish and perfectly content to let everyone always do their best to protect us. All I'd been doing was hanging behind, needing to be protected, just like today even. I couldn't do that anymore- I was a part of this ordeal and thus I was responsible for carrying some of the weight on my own shoulders. It was my turn to protect our friends. And I would do anything I could.

Noting that stalling was useless, I completely unfolded the paper.

_Be at the fountain after 12. Come alone. _

The words burned around my vision and for a good while I couldn't bring myself to look away as the questions and fear gnawed at my insides.

_They mean the Siren's fountain at the park... What could they possibly want from me?_ I thought, though the possibilities were already racing through my head. I wasn't stupid- things were beginning to come together.

As much as I wanted to pretend that this wasn't happening, that I really did have nothing to do with anything, and as much as I wanted to just run away from it all, I knew with each passing moment that there had been a point in all of this mess that I'd crossed. I think I was even beginning to understand what Asami wanted from me or at least a vague idea. I could only hope that it wasn't what I thought.

Suddenly, there was a light knocking at the door- my heart practically leapt out of my chest.

"Y-yes?" I tried to answer calmly, cursing myself when I stuttered.

"..Ren?" My breathing hitched- it was Kurama! Oh Kami, he must've _found out_-

"Kurama! Um, sorry hold on a minute!" Scrambling up, I began ripping the paper to pieces, threw them down into the toilet and flushed the evidence. I glanced in the mirror (noting, to my horror, just how terrible I looked) and quickly arranged an innocent expression before getting a hold of myself and yanking open the door.

In my jitteriness, I'd managed to catch him off guard. I wanted to smack myself, but had to focus on keeping a composed face. I couldn't let him or anyone else know that something was wrong. I had to act normal... but what was normal again?

"Hi, Kurama," I said, wiping my hands as if I'd just washed them and trying to make a show of casually closing the door behind me, "Did you need something?"

Still surprised, Kurama just shook his head after a pause, looking slightly concerned, "No, not at all. Sorry for disturbing. Hiei had just grown worried about you being gone a long time."

That surprised me a little, and true confusion fixed my expression, "You mean... he actually said that?"

At this, Kurama only smirked, "Well, no, not technically, but it was quite obvious." He paused for a beat, eyeing me. Feeling squeamish under his gaze, I found myself very interested in an off-colored speck on the wall.

"Ren... are you alright?" He asked softly.

"Sorry what?" I caught his eyes and suddenly I couldn't look away. I felt myself slowly losing control of my feelings and started to feel very antsy to get away.

"You've been awfully quiet since this morning. I can imagine that you're tired with what we've gone through and you haven't gotten any proper sleep since we've come back. Maybe you should stay here tonight with Hiei and rest."

"What- no!" The words came out too quickly- I coughed to disguise it and started again, "You're right, I am feeling a bit jumpy, but I'm sure Hiei would throw a tantrum if he didn't get to go. I can hang on for a little longer. I-" I allowed my composure to break slightly, my entire body sagging with exhaustion, "I just... I'm so worried..."

Thought it was the complete truth, it worked perfectly for the moment. Kurama nodded in understanding and patted my shoulder in comfort.

"We'll get them back safely, I have no doubt. We'll just have to be smart from now on."

"Right," I agreed. Suddenly there was another bout of yelling coming from the living room. I sighed, rubbing my temples. Kurama shook his head with a sigh.

"We should go to make sure that they're not about to kill each other. It won't do the girls much good if we can't even hold base up here."

I don't really remember much of the rest of our free time because I was locked away in my anxious thoughts. The note had specifically said to go alone, but how was I supposed to get away from them all? There was no way that I could just disappear without someone noticing- Hiei would probably notice right away, too... unless I could find a big enough distraction. But how?

My eyes widened in a mini-epiphany. Of course!

_Hiei!_

What if I confided in Hiei? The note had not said anything about keeping it a secret... together we might be able to think of something. To play it safe, we could keep it to ourselves and I could...

I tried nurturing the idea, but finally came to my senses and miserably tossed the idea. I know I could trust Hiei to not tell the others if I wanted, but I was being stupid if I thought I would actually risk jeopardizing Yukina and Botan's life anymore than they already were- who knows what would happen to them? Besides, I already had an idea, as terrible as it might've seemed.

Back in the mountains during many of Genkai's training sessions, I'd learned a lot about myself and the manipulation of my spirit energy. When inside a barrier, it was like cutting off air circulation, except in this case any kind of wave. Sound wave, energy wave, scent and the such. I could practically vanish, except from sight. What had to be done was simple enough- hypothetically, all I had to do was get out of their sight long enough to hide myself under a barrier and not be caught until I reached the fountain.

But theory was simple and practice on the other hand... it sounded impossible.

~.~.~.~.~

The feelings of anxiety and nerves only doubled with every step and I just about jumped out of my skin at every little noise and shadow. I rested a hand over my racing heart, breathing. I had to calm down- Botan and Yukina's lives were still at risk because of me.

"Ren," A warm hand gripped my shoulder, stopping me, and I gasped in fear until I realized I was staring into a very familiar face with fiery red eyes that seemed to probe into my soul. Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara kept going, unaware that we were falling behind.

The worst was instantly flying through my mind- Hiei knew and I was busted. I had to be witty and fast or I was about to be facing a raging fire demon's fury. The dam barely keeping my chaotic emotions at bay was about to burst and as a last attempt, I struggled to keep under control.

"Hiei? What's wrong? The others are going ahead..."

But Hiei didn't look angry, or at least obviously so. I dared, hesitantly, to test the waters by reaching through the bond_,_ but I couldn't reach him- He'd blocked himself off, intentionally or not I wasn't surebut he neither seemed furious or spiteful, only anxious. His face betrayed nothing though. He only fixed me with a hard stare for a few moments, silently and without falter. I gulped slowly. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"... You..." He seemed uncomfortable and even a little embarrassed. Eventually, he just grumbled and stuffed his hands in his pockets, and said, "Are you alright?"

I was almost relieved. This was easy! I could handle this- I knew what to say: _Of course, I'm fine! _The words were on the tip of my tongue and I was about to speak them just like the good liar I was, but his eyes were just so piercing and before I knew it, I choked on the words. Then to top it off, the one word that I _could_ get out was...

"Why?"

I could only hope that I didn't sound as afraid and lonely as I felt. But the weak armor encasing me was on the verge of melting beneath his burning gaze. I could hide things, but this was something else.

His constant poker face was always maddening. It was truly only his eyes that gave any hint of what could possibly be going through his mind, and even now, I couldn't read them. I waited for his response anxiously. I nervously glanced over my shoulder at the receding figures in the distance.

Finally, although carefully and maybe even suspiciously, Hiei averted his eyes with a trademark, "Hn." I caught myself about to sigh out loud in relief. I'd just passed whatever test Hiei had subjected me too. He knew something was up, obviously (it was as if his eyes were actually x-ray vision enabled- for all I knew with his demonic powers, they could be), but as long as he kept his question and prying at bay for a little longer, it'd be fine.

"Come on, we're being left behind." He said and waited for me to join his side before catching up with the others.

This wasn't good. If Hiei had me staying directly next to him, there was no way I'd be able to slip away without a notice. I had to do something fast thought because soon enough I could see the peak of the trees and the narrow, gravelly entrance into the park.

I was beginning to feel like this certain place was becoming more of a symbol if anything, and maybe more. It was where everything had begun for me, where I'd almost been killed by Tatsuya, where I came to retreat or collect Hiei after fighting, where we'd both fallen into the fountain... Maybe this is where it ended too. I had to shake the thoughts from my head before my knees gave out.

This was really it, we were at the entrance and it was time. Kuwabara glanced at his wrist.

He grit his teeth, "It's 12, so where is the coward?"

For a few scary moments, I started wondering how obvious it would be if I just raced into the deep brush now and make it to the fountain. We couldn't have been in a better place. From here, the fountain was just 5 minutes away if I avoided the path and cut straight through; the bond should definitely be long enough. I knew this place like the back of my hand. As I'd planned, I started to concentrate, feeling the familiar warm pool of energy beginning to stir within me, willing to wait just a moment longer.

I didn't have to wait for long.

They appeared as if from nowhere. There had been a wisp of wind and leaves, and suddenly there were the three of them, Minoru looking sharp and intelligent with a smile that sparkled coldly, accompanied by a giant man and cat-like girl draped comfortably around his shoulders. Her cat eyes gleamed in the dark and I instantly recognized them as the ones flashing in the crowd.

"Good evening," Minoru's voice was rich like honey, "I hope you don't mind the company- You see, Aya and Itsuki have been feeling a bit cooped up for a while. We do need to our pets out every once in a while, you see."

Aya didn't seem to find his statement very pleasing and opened her mouth in a mild hiss, but Itsuki remained quiet and composed, not flinching at his words. Aya shot one more poisonous glare towards Minoru before shifting it to settle on the rest of us. She reminded me of a lioness, prowling for the toy that looked like the most fun to chew on.

She licked her lips eagerly with a smile, "Itsu and I haven't had our turn fighting yet... If I had to wait any longer, I think I'd go crazy." She licked her hand and pawed at a fuzzy ear playfully.

Nobody was in the mood for light banter. Immediately, all the boys were already on their guard. Hiei beckoned me backwards, towards the trees. Suddenly, the opportunity was presenting itself perfectly- a couple of steps behind me and I could disappear.

"You know what I just realized Minoru?" Yusuke shouted, hand already cocked and pointed straight at Minoru's head, "What kind of sick guy would endanger his own family? Your own _sister_, no less! Frankly, it makes me a hell of a lot more pissed off than I already am."

Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword as Kurama plucked a flower from his hair that instantly slithered into his wickedly sharp whip within a second. Hiei adjusted his stance, raising his arms dangerously. Though he was without a doubt the weakest among them, he could still hope to fracture several skulls.

"For your own sakes, it would be wise to return both of the girls safely." Kurama's voice was icy and Kuwabara swung his sword into an offensive stance.

"If you've so much as even _scratched _them-" Kuwabara started, but was abruptly cut off by Hiei who snarled loudly.

"Enough talk! I'm tired of your face." I realized with dread what Hiei must've been going through right now. First Yukina was gone and now he was once again face to face with the demon that had taken away his power and had nearly gotten away with his life.

Minoru actually chuckled, crossing his arms, "Really Hiei? Are you going to bite me? I, over anyone, should know how you're all bark right now."

Hiei growled again and would've charged straight out, except for Kurama's instant firm grip on his arm.

"Stop Hiei," he ordered, "You should avoid fighting him if you can and focus on protecting Ren instead."

_No! _I wanted to protest, but couldn't. I could only wait with agonizing breath.

Hiei shoved his hand away and shouted back, "Don't be ridiculous Kurama! I'm not just going to stand by again. Besides, we have better chance at taking the three of them down even quicker with four." He shot a smirk at them. Aya hissed hotly, Itsuki didn't respond, and Minoru only sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Really now, how troublesome-" his words were cut off sharply just as Kuwabara's sword sailed down on him, but he'd already leapt up and away from the attack a second before. Mid-air, he grinned down at them all and I froze as I felt his eyes caught mine.

"I must offer my apologies, but I find that my presence is required elsewhere at the moment,"

"Where do you think you're going? Spirit gun!" Yusuke aimed and fired, instantly filling the black sky with a burst of blue-silver, but there was another gust of wind and leaves and Minoru had vanished. Yusuke cursed loudly.

Aya unfurled herself from Itsuki's shoulders, dropping to the ground as if weightless. She flicked her wrist, claws flickering razor-sharp like her eyes. Itsuki finally showed the first sign of movement when he began to crouch.

She licked her paw once more and flashed them a wicked smile, "And that's our cue."

And mine.

Minoru would definitely be waiting for me by the fountain now. There was no doubt.

Then everything seemed to erupt at once. Regardless of the obvious fact that the duo was outnumbered by two, their incredible speed was already making it very clear that it wasn't going to be an easy fight.

In a flash, Aya had pounced and slashed at Kuwabara before he could even realize what was happening.

"Kuwabara!" I cried in horror and watched the thick, red liquid dripped from her fingers as Kuwabara shouted in pain, holding a hand over his chest, his entire torso suddenly soaked in blood, a series of _X_-like lines disappearing under the color quickly. He landed flat on his back, probably out cold. She didn't waste a moment to pause and had already jumped back into the air, aiming for Hiei. He barely managed to leap out of the way just as Aya clawed a chunk of dirt from the ground.

Even when he landed back down he had no time to do anything else before stacks of rock were shooting up under his feet. A few feet away, Itsuki had clenched his fists and smashed the ground.

Then all at once I was very distinctly aware that I wasn't being targeted; so, they were in on it too, as a distraction. They had all but forgotten about me. I almost couldn't move, but with a final steeling of my nerves, I took a deep breath, turned around, and bolted into the brush. I didn't even pause to see if any of them could've noticed.

My chest ached- I couldn't help but feel as if I was betraying them. I shook my head feverishly- I wasn't! I just needed to do what I could to save them. Barreling towards the fountain, I closed my eyes for one more moment, and then commanded myself to focus. My energy began to radiate.

_I'm sorry, Hiei. Please don't... _I stopped thinking and allowed myself to all but disappear.

~.~.~.~.~

Pushing aside the thick brush, and mostly scratching myself in the process, I finally tumbled out into the open, almost falling over. The only sound I could hear other than the distant, muffled clash, was the soft babble of the fountain. The water glowed light blue in the dark, like that one night with Hiei that seemed so long ago.

For a moment, I almost thought that I'd been wrong and that Minoru hadn't intended to meet me at all since I didn't see anyone, but after circling the fountain, I stiffened as I found said person lounging on the rim, lightly dipping his fingers into the gurgling water. His violet eyes flickered enigmatically as they caught mine, a fine eyebrow arching up.

I couldn't back down now; there was no point holding anything back. I also was aware of the fact that Asami wanted me alive, so I let my full feelings of hatred and anger settle on face to him.

He began to stand, patting down his pants, "My- you actually startled me." He flashed me a smile and I had to resist the urge to back away, "Be proud; you've really managed to develop your barrier, and in such a small window of time no less. I couldn't even sense you until you were standing right there." He paused, looking pleased, "You really are the one. Asami is most eagerly awaiting your reunion."

"What do you want?" I said.

"Well, first, mind letting me in?" He said while walking forward and moving his hand to hover over the barrier. Allowing only the tips of his fingers to drop down, there was a tiny flash of light as his hand was repelled, but instead of showing any sign of discomfort, he only continued to smile, "You see? How are we supposed to talk properly if you're going to hide behind this?"

"Am I supposed to trust you?" I replied haughtily, "You really think I'm going to just do what you say just like that?"

He finally dropped the smile and I felt my breath hitch, "Yes, you're going to do exactly what I say. Of course you shouldn't trust me, but yet here you are. You know what position you're in- you're at my mercy. Now," His words were like daggers and he stepped right to the very edge, "May I come in? Don't drop it now- we don't want your friends coming to the rescue too soon."

He was right- I was practically at his mercy. After a second and with a wordless swallow, I painfully stretched the barrier so that we were in it together. My barrier had been made to work against me now- I was trapped under the concentration of holding it up and at his mercy. Plus, we were practically invisible to the outside world- Hiei and the others wouldn't be able to find me without seeing until I put it down, which now I wasn't even allowed to do. Not yet at least. I grit my teeth.

"Okay, you got what you want. Now where are Botan and Yukina? They better be safe or you'll be sorry," I seethed, sounding much braver than I felt.

Minoru was unfazed, "I'm sorry, but I trust that you'll understand that I'm not at the liberty to return them at the moment. After all, my baby sister and the ice maiden have already proven to be so useful- it's how I got you here too, after all."

His gaze was piercing... but then again, I've handled much worse.

"...Why did you call me here?" I conceded. He cocked his head, thinking.

"Hm... no," He drawled out, tapping his chin with a long white finger, "No, I don't think it's fair that you've been able to ask all the questions. Actually, let's do this: we may each take a turn asking the other a question. It can be any question you'd like. Fine?"

I eyed him warily, impatient, but gradually nodded going along with his little game. This way I might at least be able to get a few questions of my own answered.

"I'll start, since I've already answered some of your questions-"

"But you didn't really-" I started, but he quipped me with a tsk.

"It's not your turn."

I grimaced but kept my mouth shut. It was almost painful being so out of control.

"Now then, first question," He grinned enigmatically and I tensed, high and alert. I waited anxiously for a few anticipating moments.

"May I touch you?"

The air was practically sucked out of me. I was dumbfounded, "W-what?" Out of all the questions he could have asked, _that_ had not crossed my mind.

He held up a hand, "It's a simple question. May I?" Noting my extreme apprehension, he chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't bite. Much."

I remained silent. I didn't trust this man with any fiber of my being, but what choice was he leaving me at the moment? Whether I gave him permission or not, I don't think it would have mattered. But there were things I wanted to know and there would only be hope of finding them out if I cooperated.

"Okay." The word sounded heavy in my mouth, like my tongue was working around a stone.

His eyes glimmered approval, "Splendid," I grew more scared as he came closer, but he finally paused when he was directly in front of me. I flinched when he reached out a hand , but he only flashed me a knowing look. I remained still as his palm was suddenly on my cheek. It was icy cold and I shivered. Then he started pulling down until it rested on the center of my chest, right below my neck. I'm sure he could feel the terrible pounding of my heart and I cursed myself for being so afraid and weak.

"Your turn," He said, not removing his hand.

I took in a shuddery breath, then stared straight into his eyes, "Why did you call me here?" I was afraid he'd steer around the question once more, but instead, he spoke calmly, matter-of-factly.

"I'm preparing necessary final touches on a project I've been working on for Asami and I need something from you. I've also been given the task to deliver a message."

"What can you need from _me? _What's the message?"

"Ah, ah; you already asked your question."

I huffed in impatience, feeling very uncomfortable that he hadn't removed his hand yet, "Okay, what?"

His voice dropped and he bent over my head, resting close to my ear. Then his voice, liquid smooth like a spider, whispered_,_ "Have you been having any _dreams_ lately?"

I went absolutely rigid, the blood in my veins turning to ice. My heart almost stopped and once again I felt something stirring inside myself. I tried to stifle the queasiness, but Minoru had already got what he needed; he knew the answer if my reaction hadn't been enough. Something close to awe flashed in his eyes as he finally withdrew his hand.

"...I see. You are just full of pleasant surprises." He said.

"What?" I asked in confusion, immediately drawing back, but he just smirked.

"Really, use your imagination. You don't want to waste your question with that..."

Okay, so he knew and maybe- the thought hadn't occurred to me before now- he knew more about it than I did; there was no helping that now though. And the way we were going, I wasn't going to get all of the questions I wanted to ask out. I was walking on very unstable ground- I had to be more careful from now on.

"What's the message?" I asked, making a decision.

He sighed, as if disappointed but answered, "Asami would like you to know that you are invited, from now on, and very welcome to visit our palace at your leisure."

I was instantly fuming at the ridiculous invitation, "Why the hell would I _want to visit_? Asami can try anything she'd like, but if she think I'd-"

"Refusal, of course, is not an option; after all, you will be joining her side very soon, on your own will- it's inevitable."

A strong wind rippled through the trees and the shadows suddenly made him look more sinister, his gaze razor sharp.

"What does she want from me?" I half-whispered.

He didn't avoid the question this time and took a small strand of my hair and curling it around his fingers. He breathed lightly into my hair, and handled me as if I were a fragile piece of glass, "Your body and _soul._"

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei, don't let her touch you! Her claws are poisonous- Kuwabara's already been immobilized!" Kurama shouted in warning, and Hiei and Aya instantly flipped backwards as his whip tore the ground to pieces where the cat demon had once been standing. She hissed.

"Watch it!" She growled, but Kurama only cracked his weapon wickedly once more, sending it in her direction again. Still in mid air, her body writhed like a snake and she easily maneuvered out of the way, gently landing on her feet. She grinned, flashing her fangs, and crouched down, preparing to spring again.

"You know how it goes- cats always land on their feet!" She giggled, smiling, "Wow, I can't believe you noticed so fast- that's amazing! I wish we'd done this sooner! This is so much fun!"

Off to the side, Yusuke was having a fun time himself; with a conscious, but useless and bleeding Kuwabara draped over his shoulder, he'd barely been able to stumble away in time as Itsuki sent wave after wave of the upheaval of dagger-like rocks from the ground. Yusuke cursed colorfully- he couldn't even hope of attacking with Kuwabara on his back.

"Kuwabara, you idiot! How could you let that _cat_ get you so fast?" Yusuke shouted in frustration at the carrot-top who only shouted back.

"Shut up Urameshi! How was I supposed to know that she could do that? And what about you, Mr. Mazaku! Just put me down somewhere or you're going to get us both killed!"

"Idiot! If I put you down, you _will_ be killed!"

"Don't make me-_SHI-"_ Kuwabara started but his eyes practically popped out of his head and Yusuke whirled around just as another, strong wave came at them full force. He tried pulling away, but one stray stalagmite nicked him deep in the shoulder, spraying blood.

"Yusuke!" Kurama called, but Yusuke barely addressed the wound with miffed anger, as a thick trickle of blood started soaking its way down his sleeve.

"Damn you! Keiko is going to kill me if she sees this!" Suddenly, he and Kuwabara were being shoved in an opposite direction as a third wave made impact. Slightly stunned, Yusuke was barely able to register Hiei's glowing glare.

"Who cares! Get the moron somewhere safe or you're _both_ going to be stuck like pigs," Hiei snarled and then promptly shoved him away as Aya hissed, striking and missing at their heads again. Yusuke dove out of the way, Kuwabara yelped and Hiei only smirked flipping away once again.

"What's wrong Kuwabara?" Hiei grinned, "I thought you liked cats."

Kuwabara looked horrified as Aya's diamond eyes flashed over him, but he was soon forgotten as Aya lunged for Hiei once again.

Hiei growled, rolling forward and spinning on a hand- he couldn't risk turning his back to this cat demon for more than a few seconds. She was too fast and even after his training, he still couldn't hope to match her speed until he was back to normal. One mistake and this handicap was truly going to be the death of him.

"Do you have a bone to pick with me, feline? You seem fairly intent on getting me- and if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the mood to play games with you."

She snorted, "Please, if I really wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now." Her tail twitched, "Look at you: you're just a powerless demon who can only run away from me. So don't even try to talk big- I can see you slowing down already. I'm surprised you've even managed to keep your pet alive this long, but like I said, none of the others must have really been trying to kill you since you're not dead yet. Asami's been a downright prick ever since she-" Suddenly, Aya meowed in alarm as Itsuki picked her up from behind, pinning her arms down and holding her to his chest. Neither she nor Hiei had noticed him creep up behind her.

She struggled in bewilderment, unable to squirm from his grasp, as she viciously tried to escape.

"Itsu! What are you doing!" She cried out indignantly, "Let me down!" On command, with a soft thump, she was released and slid to the floor. She glanced at Itsuki in confusion, her ears pressed to her head as if she'd just had her feelings hurt.

Itsuki's voice was deep and quiet but powerful, "Aya, be quiet."

Nimbly, Itsuki twisted around as Kurama's whip sailed down towards him and he promptly engaged Kurama into a personal one-on-one battle of his own. The damage had already been done though. Realization had hit Hiei like thunder. His eyes widened. _No..._

He whirled around to look, though the dark feeling of dread had already taken hold of him.

The trees moaned and rustled in an empty field, Ren nowhere in sight.

Where he'd last left her was only a deserted spot. In sudden desperation, he focused on the bond, but was only met with a weak pulse in return. Alarm washed over him- he'd only taken his eyes off of her for a moment! How long had she been gone? None of them had even heard anything.

Without wasting another beat, Hiei turned on his heels and charged the park entrance, the adrenaline already beating like a drum through his veins.

He'd be damned if he let her be lost too.

"Hey! _Eyes on me_!" Aya cried ferociously and leapt in front of Hiei, directly blocking him. A loose cloud of dust stirred where she'd landed and she was frowning now, trailing her steely eyes over him hungrily, angry.

"She's busy at the moment; besides forget about her!" Aya grew more agitated, her cat eyes narrowing until they were thin slits, "You're _playing_ with me right now, remember?"

"I could care less about you- get out of my way!" Hiei was barely able to grit out. His whole body felt like it was on fire. "_Move._ Or I'll _make_ you move."

There was a flicker in Aya's eyes, the tiniest of wavers, but she quickly recovered, not allowing herself to lose her control over the situation. She was the one who could deal damage- Hiei's words were only empty threats no matter how dangerous he sounded.

"Please, I'd like to see you try." Aya mocked him.

"What have you done with her?" Hiei spat, his knuckles clenched so tightly they were white. But Aya was done talking. With a chilling hiss, she lunged for Hiei once more, forcing him into the defensive. She was too fast- before Hiei could even try looking for an opening, she'd already attacked him again and it took all he could to barely avoid her razor sharp claws which shattered one of her partner's pointed rocks instead, chunks of debris flying. A red line appeared on his arm and he was even aware of a slight numbing sensation, but he couldn't find himself to care. There was so much more at risk now than himself- there was only one thing on his mind.

With a curse, he felt the ground beneath him become uneven and he stumbled backwards, and a searing pain raked across his hand as she landed a solid swipe. He fell backwards with a grunt, warm blood beginning to soak his shirt. Though he could tell it was a shallow wound, he knew her poison was already working its way up his arm; he'd been able to pull himself back enough so that her claws hadn't been able to get full on, but it had definitely knocked the breath from him.

It was only another reason to curse his weakness.

Suddenly, Aya was straddling him with another sly grin. She licked the blood of her claws slowly, eyeing Hiei thoroughly with intense eyes. Her grin was feral and he felt his blood boil, knowing that she was only toying with him now. He could barely feel his hand anymore too, but then in his other... He tensed slightly.

"You know," she said, decidedly more chipper than before, "You're pretty cute... If I didn't have Itsu, then maybe you and I could have possibly met on different terms."

Realizing he was at Aya's complete disposal, his mind whirled until he practically saw red. He wasn't scared or fearful. Oh, no. He was _livid._

The more time wasted here was more time that Ren was in danger.

She leaned further over him, looming on the brink of seductive and purred. From the side, they could hear Itsu beginning to grumble loudly, almost losing attention enough to let Kurama's rose whip actually land a lethal blow. With a giggle, Aya glanced at him.

"Don't worry Itsu. I'm just kidding. I would never leave y-"

That was all Hiei had needed- one moment for one opening. She should never have taken her eyes off him.

Stunned, Aya gazed back down at him with dilated eyes and he returned the look with deep hatred.

She might've been fast but for every strength there was weakness. She'd underestimated him and that would prove grave to her.

"_Eyes on me_." He repeated slowly, gradually and agonizingly withdrawing the thick dagger like rock with a twist. It must've come from the stalagmite she'd shattered in her last attack; he'd been lucky he realized it was there- though he couldn't say the same thing for her. She coughed and red specks spattered over his hands.

Blood was beginning to bloom through the center of her white kimono like a rich, red flower. She leapt backwards, clutching at the wound with sharp pants, drops of crimson dripping from her fingers. Hiei jumped to his feet, trying to bring back feeling to his poisoned arm.

"Damn..._you.._," She panted harshly, but fell to her knees already not able to stand on her feet.

Disposing of the crude weapon, Hiei didn't spare her any pain when he pulled at the collar of her kimono.

"You might be fast, but your body is weak. Fragile," he sneered, "Now _what have you done with her?"_

"Hiei!" That was the only warning he had before he was yanked backwards, Aya wrenched from his hands as another wave of rock stabbed upwards, missing him by inches. Kurama released him once they were out of reach, but there was no getting closer. Between each stalagmite, they could see Itsu reaching Aya's side and bundling her up in his arms. She was still conscious though.

"This isn't over," She coughed, "We'll be back," She threatened and there was a swipe of darkness, a sucking sound like a vacuum and the duo was gone.

Kurama turned to Hiei and asked if he was alright, but Hiei ignored him. Yusuke struggled over to them, Kuwabara still draped uselessly over his shoulder, but both otherwise uninjured.

"Hiei! Are you ok?" Yusuke asked hurriedly, noting his wound.

"This is just a scratch!" he barked, "Kurama, do you sense her at all?" He asked desperately. Having grasped the situation, Kurama shook his head.

"Her scent just vanished and I can't even pick up her spirit energy."

"She's here somewhere though," Hiei insisted, "I can still feel her through the bond- just faintly."

"So she is still here?" Yusuke asked hopefully. Hiei just growled.

"Enough talk! We need to find her!"

Kurama nodded and offered to take the limp Kuwabara from Yusuke who handed him over quickly. He looked at them grimly.

"I need to tend to Kuwabara and drain most of the poison- I trust you're alright for the most part, Hiei, the poison should exit your system quickly. Yusuke, go with Hiei and find Ren. We can't let them take someone else away."

Hiei didn't even wait for Yusuke before he was already racing away.

~.~.~.~.~

I snapped away from him as if he'd burned me.

"My body and soul?" I repeated weakly, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice.

Minoru smiled, "Surely, you must have some idea?"

I shook my head, my mouth pressed together into a thin line.

"Regardless, Asami isn't ready for you yet, but don't worry- she will be soon. Very soon. Ah, that reminds me." He swiped his hand in the air in a quick slicing motion and I squeezed my eyes shut. There was a small _fwish_ and I flinched when I felt a tiny sting on my face followed by a light ticklish flutter.

Minoru bent down to pick up what had dropped to the ground as a tiny rivulet of blood leaked from the new cut on my face, but I barely noticed it. As he came back up, I could see a small chunk of chocolate hair in his hand. I instantly reached for the side of my face- that had been _my _hair. On one finger, he was balancing a drop of blood. Taking care not to let it slide off his finger, he rubbed it into the pieces of hair until the strands were darkly stained.

"What-"

"Relax, I only needed a little bit. I was even kind enough to take it from the ends."

I didn't actually care about that at all- I just wanted to know what he needed it for. Minoru pulled a small glass bottle from his robe. He slid the hair in, corked it, and tucked it back in his robe with a light pat. He paused, inclining his head and sighed.

"Ah, it appears your friends have become aware of your absence. We have little time left then."

"Wait- you're just letting me go then?" I asked, surprise momentarily stronger than my wariness.

"Of course, I did say we weren't ready for you yet. But now, listen carefully to my following words," Minoru said seriously, calmly, and reached back into his robe, pulling out another thing. This item was small and fit into his palm. It glistened in the moonlight and reflected the fountain water. It was a mirror. He held it out to me.

Curious, I held out my hands and he dropped the small mirror into them.

"Don't lose this," He said, "This will open the door to Asami's castle. For now, Asami has extended her invitation to your friends as well. Once gathered, all you must do is ask the mirror to show you the way and an entry point will open and create a temporary portal for you to enter. Once inside and beside My Lady, an exchange will be made for the ice maiden and my sister."

"An exchange?" I asked carefully.

"It's a secret." He put his finger to his lips enigmatically. I cringed inside.

"Ok... fine I get it, but why did I need to come here alone if this all you were going to tell me?" I was still confused, as if I were feeling around in the dark. He didn't hesitate though.

"I already told you- I needed something specifically from you," He ran his fingers over the spot where he'd pocketed the small glass bottle, "And I needed to check one last time, to make sure. Wish I'd known sooner though- you could have saved me so much time all those months ago. Who would've thought- ah, Asami might never have forgive me if you'd been killed. It seems it was destiny that spared you that night we first met... and you wouldn't have put anybody in so much danger," he paused again, thoughtful, "...like your uncle, for example. Well then again, Hiei would have died too I suppose, but then again he was supposed to die that day anyway. The fact that he's alive is only a mistake on my part. I do hope to kill him myself, you know, and finish the job sooner rather than later."

My heart froze as a dark terror and anger swirled inside me so suddenly that any doubt I'd just been feeling was overcome with a fiery defiance.

"Stay away from them." I said coldly, angrily clenching my fists, "Hurt either of them and you can forget about me cooperating with you!"

Minoru sighed dramatically and replied mockingly, "Oh no, if you did that, what would we do? Oh wait,"

I was only able to wheeze a measly gasp out before his cold fingers were gripping my neck in a vice's grip. Instant panic and fear set in as all the air was literally squeezed out of me. Shocked beyond control, my barrier dissipated nearly in an instant. I felt myself rising in the air and was barely able to make out Minoru's domineering figure beneath me as my vision began to swim- the need to breathe was becoming intense.

Then I began to feel a funny burning where his hand gripped me and I opened my mouth in a silent, breathless scream. The burn only continued to grow until I was sure I was going to pass out- it hurt too much.

Minoru's hot breath was hissing into my ear now- the black spots were making it everything hard to register anything.

"I have just marked you with a spell- every noise, syllable, and word that leaves your lips, I'll know. So, if you reveal or talk about _anything_ except for the entry point, there will be consequences, I can promise you."

My lungs were going to burst and I could practically _feel_ the life going out of me- I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. My mouth barely moved, no sound coming out.

_Hiei._

Then just as the end had come, there was a flash of brilliant, familiar blue light and I was thrown backwards, landing on the ground roughly. I coughed and hacked, taking in wonderful, delicious mouthfuls of oxygen. In fact, I was breathing so fast that I began to choke. My vision swam as I became more and more disoriented.

"Ren!" I felt hands on me and I was barely able to look up into Hiei's eyes before I had another coughing fit. Standing beside him, Yusuke pointed his spirit gun at Minoru who'd only moved to avoid the lethal blast.

"I believe that's my exit," Minoru chuckled and jumped to avoid another of Yusuke's direct blast. Through my swimming vision, I could only watch as Minoru was once more surrounded by a swirling vortex of leaves and was gone once they'd cleared.

Bathed in the once again quiet and tranquil moonlight, the Siren looked especially sad gazing at her human lover right then, and, suddenly, despite the fact that I knew I'd been saved and that Hiei had found me, I felt more alone now than ever.

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><p>I have no good excuses except life guys ._. I'm sorry... I'm the worst person ever ;A;<p>

All I can say is I hope that this chapter was worth the wait ( though it might not be) or you at least enjoyed it a teensy weensy bit! Please let me know! Or go ahead and review to yell and throw things at me- either way, thank you so much for coming back and reading :') And if you're new, thank you too for reading up to this point! Love you all!

Of course, on a side note, I also noticed that we're close to 200 reviews! *faints* Woooo- I never dreamed it'd be possible! And that also means the 200th reviewer gets another one-shot :D Don't worry one-shotters, I've got your ideas jotted down still, so you are definitely not forgotten. So until next time!

Please continues to send me your lovely reviews! I cherish each and every one c:

Love always, InuChimera7410

Review Responses (Next time, I'll just be replying to you guys individually~!) :

**jennibearr: **Yup, no break time allowed! :) I hope you liked the (long-awaited -_- ) chapter! :D

**dragoscilvio: **You know, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I'm becoming obsessed with that idea too. Especially the "weak as a little kitten" bit xD It sounds like comedy, mushy-gushy gold! I'm glad you love the story and I hope you don't hate me for the super long wait!

**DemonMiko Jenna: **Haha thanks! I'm sorry, I couldn't help the Twilight jab in there... it was just an opportunity that I couldn't pass up! I think this story needs some comic relief time to time xD And you are just amazingly psychic man o_o And don't worry, I love your long reviews! :D

**Skyla15699: **I'm sorry I haven't updated soon ;A; But thank you soo much!

**Kshepps27: **Sorry with the mini-cliffie! I hope you're not dead, since I did make you wait a while! Dx Surprised? Did you like it? I hope this kind of, sort of was able to make up for the long wait. I definitely, definitely plan on updating A LOT sooner!

**Lauraj21: **I hope you haven't stopped checking since it has been a while :) Thank you for your review :'D I'm glad you've like the story so far!

**sherlaylay: **I thought it was cute too x3 While I like action and suspense, I do need my side of cute and fluffy c: Thank you for reviewing!

**FireStorm1991: **You know, I think they are ;D Thank you for the review and I hope you liked this chapter too!

**Guest: **Haha, I really don't know why I put that cow thing there xD I think I was feeling a bit tired! yeah, I love Keiko too :D You just don't see many female characters like her around anymore (or at least I don't think so...) but about your guess, I can only say that you're very warm! I don't want to spoil anything :D

**Just 2 Dream of You: **Hello dearie! I'll stop cow throwing now! I've taken up crying in corners instead... ;A; Thank you so much for that comment too, ;A; *so happy* I hope this chapter was ok c:

**Annmarie: **I'm sorry I stopped like that! I've always been worried about Hiei's character because one of my concerns is making him OOC, so thank you so much for telling me that! I love that you're enjoying it :D

**sailorangelmoon1: **Haha, if I thought I had writer's block before, it was nothing compared to this chapter! DX I actually don't not like Twilight because at first I did enjoy the books, but honestly when the movie came out it just killed it for me! Thank you for the love though! And I just can't imagine any of the guys ever liking Twilight! Of course, I thought Keiko would adore it though ;D

**middlekertz: ** Thank you ;A; Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Tay:** Yay, I'm glad you did! So so so sorry it's been so long! D':

**stacikate16: **I know right? At first, I hadn't planned it but I saw a perfect opening and then yeah, I admit I did it on purpose! :D

**DoodleRave:** I know, I loved writing it x3 You know, I can't fit those moments in all the time, especially since it's Hiei! He's (unfortunately) the least lovey dovey character out there ;D

**SkySpitter12: **Sorry it's been so long :( But I hope you liked this chapter!

**LilliLabyrinth: **I'm so sorry ;A; *dodges flying Keiko punches though I deserve them*

**LovelyDovey: **I'm so touched you think it's a treasure :D Thank you for your review and I hope you like this chapter!

**Shinigami Ameonna: **It literally makes me so sad to think that I haven't update in so long that I let some people think I was going to abandon this story ;A; I'm so sorry! I hope I'm on my way of redeeming myself with this chapter!

**MyLifeInWhole: **I'M SORRY *bows* I'm sorry! I hope this is the beginning of me making up for it xD

**luvydovey78: **Thank you for reading and reviewing! :D I'm glad you like the story!


	20. What the Inside Knows is Real

Guess who? :D

This one's relatively short guys! And don't worry, I've got more to say at the bottom xD

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 20- What the Inside Knows is Real<p>

I'm not really sure what woke me up, but one moment I was watching Kuri's happiness and the next, I was blinking awake to darkness, feeling cold and terrible. We were back at Kuwabara's house and the boys had just let me fall asleep in his room. Other than asking me if I was okay and checking that I hadn't been hurt, they'd all been eerily silent on the way back.

I turned over slowly, not remembering ever closing my eyes in the first place. I couldn't even call it sleep: it had been more like a restless unconsciousness. Kuri had looked so happy in my dream… but I felt the exact opposite. It was as if a stone had replaced my heart, dragging itself to the soles of my feet.

I must've been asleep for only a couple of hours at most because I could still see the moon from the window. On the other side of the room, the door was slightly ajar, letting in a thin warm sliver that was the only light source in the room. I lay there for a few moments, until my ears gradually picked up the chaotic string of voices coming from the other room. I could tell that they belonged to the boys, but I could barely make out their hushed murmurs... Frowning, I slid out of the covers and crawled on my hands and knees towards the door, stopping at the edge and pressing my back against the wall. Cautiously, I tried looking through the small gap.

I had the perfect view of Kuwabara resting on one end of his sofa and I could see Kurama wrapping his entire torso in white bandages. I was comforted by the fact that rather than mortally wounded he only looked slightly frustrated and appeared to be arguing with the others about something.

Making myself go absolutely still and only breathing when necessary, I tried concentrating on what was being said. In retrospect, I should've known better than to eavesdrop, especially since I was going to regret ever listening.

"...at all fishy? I mean, think about it! She just happened to _conveniently _be there to save your life and it didn't take her more than a day to win us over after that. None of us even questioned it!"

"What are you trying to suggest?" came a bitterly cold reply. _Hiei_. My earlier sinking heart leaped to my throat.

Kuwabara stared hard, unblinking, "Do I really have to spell it out? How do we know that Ren hasn't been in on it with Asami from the start? I mean, if you think about it, it all fits!"

He might as well have punched me in the stomach; I couldn't breathe. _No...!_

Kuwabara continued his accusation angrily, "She obviously has something to do with Asami personally and always avoids getting the worst of anything from any of Asami's cronies! How can you not think that that's not even a little suspicious?"

"What-" Hiei snarled, but Kurama shot him a look and interrupted in an attempt to keep the conversation civilized.

"I seriously doubt it Kuwabara." Kurama paused his medical work, frowning. Somewhere across the room, Yusuke started speaking.

"Hang on Kurama... maybe," Yusuke hesitated, "Maybe Kuwabara's got a point. It's only reasonable though! I mean, how can we trust her after pulling a stunt like that? With all we know, Minoru could've been filling her in with more of their plans."

Hiei couldn't hold back any longer, "Do you even _hear_ yourselves? That's ridiculous. You actually think she's on _their _side? After all this time?"

"Well, what else could explain what she was doing with _him _tonight?" Yusuke promptly spat back, getting angry now.

"Doing with him-" Hiei faltered for an instant, sounding appalled, "Doing- I'm not sure what you saw Yusuke, but if my eyes do not betray me, I'm almost certain that he was _strangling_ her when we found her!"

Another punch to the stomach. The tears were quickly welling in my eyes the longer I listened as I carefully touched my neck. It both felt tender and burned where Minoru had choked me, but I couldn't ignore how the situation looked. Even I couldn't deny it, though I knew it was completely untrue. It really _did_ seem possible that I could be working with Asami.

Yusuke sighed sharply, "Ok, I'm not really saying that she is an enemy! I just think we have to be open to the possibility that she is... Innocent till proven guilty!"

Their voices became louder as Hiei began to argue more hotly but I couldn't listen anymore. I was feeling physically sick and I wrenched myself away from the open door. _Innocent till proven guilty._ Just how long would it take for them to decide I was guilty? I felt guilty enough as it was.

I stuffed myself back in the futon, feeling hot tears building quickly and furiously behind my adamantly shut eyelids. A ton of emotions tumbled around inside my body that I couldn't pick out easily- anger and sorrow that I had possibly just lost their trust, despair and pain, _fear_.

Several large drops managed to stubbornly work their way out of my eyes and then there was no stopping them. I held back the sobs, but I could only bury my head in the pillow as I wept. Even though Hiei seemed dead set on defending me, it was only a matter of time before he was convinced as well...

I shut my eyes again in the pitiful effort to stop the flow. It didn't.

~.~.~.~.~

"What about her uncle? Was that all fake then, too?" Hiei demanded stubbornly. Maybe he could expect this from the carrot-topped moron, but from Yusuke and even from Kurama? He had actually thought he knew them better than that.

"I-I don't know! But still." Kuwabara relented, but sulkily crossed his arms much to Kurama's annoyance, as he was still tending his wounds.

"We've had no reason not to trust her until now. Something must have happened, obviously. Why else would she even cooperate with demons after her life?" Hiei argued.

"Maybe that's what they're trying to get us to believe!" Yusuke snapped back, "Calm down and think about it Hiei- the weird mood she's been in, the way she's been on edge. She's obviously hiding something, we all know that much. There's a chance that this could really be it. Like I said, we don't want to be against her, but if this is really the truth, then what? Were we supposed to just keep going along with it?"

"No, because she hadn't done anything against us!" Hiei snarled back.

"Why are you getting so defensive Hiei? It's not like I'm accusing _you_!" Yusuke stood up, fist raised. "What? Does the great, stone Hiei actually give a _shit _this time?"

Hiei stood up as well, baring his fangs, "Shut your mouth detective!" His entire frame was almost shaking with how angry he was.

"Hiei settle down!" Kurama finally stood up, intending to hold him back if it came to that. "Think rationally. You're being blinded by your feelings!"

"Kurama stay out of this! If Hiei's got something to say, I want to hear him loud and clear!" Yusuke snapped angrily but had already gone completely oblivious to how Hiei visibly deflated and tensed, his face drawing a blank. Of course, it didn't go unnoticed by Kurama who watched his reaction curiously.

Openly caught off guard, a look of honest confusion crossed Hiei's face for a solid beat until he fixed it with a typical expression. It happened so quick that only Kurama noticed it- with slightly arched brows in awe- but Hiei only threw himself back against the sofa with a huff.

"Kurama, what are you talking about? The runt doesn't _have _feelings! A brick has more emotions than him." Kuwabara grumbled, promptly being suffocated with a large throw pillow by Yusuke.

But Hiei had already lost interest in the rest of them and had gone silent, clearly lost in his own thoughts.

Kurama stood across from him, observing him in silence. _Hm... Interesting._

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei quietly slipped into the room, flinching when the door squeaked loudly. He paused, his body taunt, and stared at the covered figure on the floor. The futon rustled slightly, then settled, a quiet exhale stirring the hush of the shadowy room.

Half a minute must've passed by the time he decided that Ren was really sound asleep. Feeling the familiar presence of the other end of the bond comforted him and he settled down by her side. Letting the darkness and peace permeate his mind, Hiei realized how fatigued he really was. His sore muscles, that he hadn't been paying attention to, began relaxing and stretching in relief. However, there was no way he was about to allow himself to let his guard down no matter how tired he was, not with what happened tonight.

Rubbing his arm, he was pleased to note how most of the numbness was already gone and that he'd regained feeling despite Aya's poisonous attack. The actual area where the skin had split, on the other hand, still stung slightly though Kurama had already cleaned and wrapped it. But he could care less about the pain- rather, just looking at it served as a bitter reminder of his failure to keep Ren out of danger.

Even in the shadows, he could see her body turned towards him, her face blank and at peace, at least for the time being. She stirred slightly again, coming into the moonlight and Hiei paused, taking another moment to re-examine her in the new light. There were shiny streaks that trailed down her face and if he really looked, the skin underneath her eyes were slightly puffy. _She'd been crying.._.

Frowning, he leaned closer, though aware he couldn't actually do anything, and stayed there in indecision, battling through a series of emotions. On one hand, the need to comfort had been practically instantaneous, but following that reaction the overwhelming confusion of _why_?

Recently he hadn't much time to really brood, but in the stillness of the night, the thoughts he'd been brushing to the side promptly flowed out. He hadn't allowed it to show either, but the Kurama's off-hand comment just a half-hour earlier had affected him more than he'd expected or liked.

_Blinded by feelings..._ The statement barely registered. After the words had been cast into the open, they'd burrowed themselves deeply into Hiei's senses, echoing around in his head. What could Kurama possibly be suggesting? _Blinded_ _by_ _feelings?_

Hiei had never exactly been a person to be affected by such trivial things like human emotion, as was known by anyone who'd ever had the pleasure of surviving an encounter with him. After he'd met Kurama, he'd witnessed first-hand what the fox had tried to do for the life of his human mother, one meek little life at the cost of his own which had so much more worth than hers in years and significance. The ghost of a smile played on Hiei's face: reflecting back on it now, he was aware of how cruel and merciless he used to be and taking that into account, he could follow his previous way of thinking about Kurama's attempted sacrifice. However, as time had passed and he'd found... companionship in others, it was even clear to him no matter what kind of attitude he displayed that he'd obviously grown (he even managed a chuckle at how far he'd fallen) _soft._ Now, rather than considering Kurama's action as a mark of weakness, he only felt honest confusion.

It frustrated him to no end; he just couldn't understand, couldn't wrap his head around the _reason._ That was what he found so incredibly defective about emotions: if allowed control, they could be the cause of irrational and dangerous behavior that could result in terrible and avoidable consequences. He found himself wishing he could ask Kurama outright, though he knew his pride would never allow it. He'd never actually tried questioning him about it before, only keeping his personal opinions to himself, but now the desire to know why he'd done it pestered him insistently.

Ren exhaled lightly in her sleep, catching Hiei's attention once again, but this time when she moved, the hair at the nape of her neck slid down her face, revealing deep purple shadows tattooed around her neck. _Where that disgusting excuse for a demon had dared to..._ His blood began to boil and another, more urgent desire swept through him.

_This anger..._ _At just a glance, I'm already filled with this inexplicable rage..._ Settling into a troubled calm, he closed his eyes gladly shutting it all out in an attempt to bring back peace to his mind.

There was a slight rustling outside the window, and Hiei snapped back from his thoughts, tensing up in caution. It had sounded like nothing more than the whisper of trees in the breeze, but he didn't want to make any assumptions.

Feeling stiff from sitting still for such a while and having lost all sense of time in the dark room, Hiei slowly started to pick himself up, trying to be quiet but quick.

However, he never managed to get up because something abruptly grabbed his hand and he felt a familiar warm tingling trail its way up through his fingertips, a warmth that lingered even after being let go. Surprised and caught off guard, Hiei froze but Ren didn't make any sudden movements. Even in the dark, he could see her eyes shining softly.

"Wait..." She whispered quietly, "Don't leave."

After not saying anything for several moments, he was startled see the brightness in her eyes dim in sadness as her grip began to go slack and pull away. Hiei automatically tugged it back without thinking; other than a startled twitch in her fingers, she didn't say anything.

Forgetting about the window, Hiei sank back down, eyes scanning her face for different signs. Without him realizing it, Ren must've stopped up her end of the bond at one point because she was totally closed off.

They stayed like that for a while until Hiei couldn't bring himself to avoid it any longer. Not one to cut corners, Hiei started straight out and to the point.

"What happened last night?"

Her gaze, which hadn't been trained on anything, darted to meet his steady and unyielding one. Though he seemed calm and collected, she could tell how serious he was. She pulled her hand away, just short of yanking, as if he'd shocked her like he used to and she turned away.

"... I can't."

He sighed in frustration, closing his eyes for a moment. If there was anything he'd learned about Ren, it was how annoyingly obstinate she was, but it was time for the truth to come out. Regardless of what the others said, Hiei couldn't be convinced that Ren was anything _but_ on their side. After everything that's happened, she hadn't ever given him the impression that she was out to harm any of them, and she'd had countless of opportunities. Even so, he did realize that the secrets had been building up over time. Previously, he hadn't necessarily been concerned but now that she was in immediate danger he needed to know everything.

"Ren," Hiei slightly growled. Didn't she realize the importance of what this all meant? _For her? _He wasn't going to play this game.

"No...I _can't._" Ren wasn't mumbling anymore, her voice hard and strained.

Hiei paused to debate whether or not continuing the gentle approach would bear any fruit or if he should just dangle her out the window. Instead, he just sighed and rested his head on a fist, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

"You're a moron."

As expected, she started at that one. Pulling roughly at the covers, she twisted around, incredulous. Now that he had her attention, he went on.

"I know you've been hiding a lot. I've had my own suspicions but for your _own_ sake it's important that you don't hold anything back anymore. What benefit do you have in keeping these heavy secrets on your own, meager shoulders?" He hadn't meant to cause the streak of hurt that crossed her face, but he was only being honest; he wasn't one really known for being as gentle. However, with her battling emotions, Hiei felt the blockade on her mind significantly weaken and her inner conflict began to leak out. He could feel the hurt, the despair, and the fear as if they were his own.

He felt... sick inside.

"_Ren..._" Suddenly he was struck by the overwhelming desire to take all of the bad away, even if just so that she wouldn't feel like this; not by herself. Surprising both her and himself, he snatched her hand once more. Her breathing hitched and her eyes went wide.

"Hiei...?" She whispered in confusion. Hiei tightened his hold, eyes closed and gritting his teeth. The words had suddenly stopped coming so easily.

"I… can feel your pain," He paused in an attempt to collect the words he was struggling to say, "...It's causing me pain to feel it. By taking all of this on your own shoulders, it hasn't made anything better. You were never alone in this... and you never will be." Here he looked straight at her with an unfaltering gaze.

"You were able to get away from us once and with that you were almost killed. I'll never let that happen to you again. You don't have to worry anymore; I'll be there to protect you." The more he spoke, the harder it became: talking like this was extremely uncomfortable, but he felt compelled to say it.

Hiei watched Ren's stunned expression for a moment and then said, "I'm telling you to depend on us. I can admit that I haven't ever been the most sociable being in this existence, but we have more in common than you think." He snorted lightly at her confused expression, "For a long time, I was perfectly fine being alone because I always was and eventually grew to welcome it. In turn, I acted according to my will alone and trusted no one."

Ren slowly sat up and quietly asked, "Why were you always alone?"

Hiei didn't know if it was the sad shine in her eyes, the soft tremor of her voice, or something in the night air, but when the next words out of his mouth came out, he was shocked. Unexpectedly, he suddenly found himself telling her everything: his beginning, his childhood, his past... everything.

Beginning with his taboo birth and into his bloody, twisted childhood, to the implant of his jagan eye (though he told her he did in fact have a sister, he was careful to avoid giving her a name, which in his defense, must've been the only thing he didn't tell her), to the present, Hiei told her his whole story without hesitation while all the while Ren remained absolutely silent, engrossed.

In a fuzzy memory of a cold, wet night that rang with laughter and a sorrowful legend, Hiei recalled that he'd once mentioned his mother and Ren had seen his precious keepsake, but now he went so far as to pull the beautiful blue tear from around his neck with his free hand, turned over her hand that he was still holding and gently let it slide into her open palm. Slightly overwhelmed, she handled the delicate jewel as if she were holding his heart in her hands.

It was a long time before Hiei was done with his tale. Telling it all at once really put a lot of what he'd done into perspective and for the first time since starting he wondered if maybe he'd been wrong to tell her any of it, but when he met her eyes, for the tiniest of moments, he felt as if he couldn't breathe.

They were shining with wonder, curiosity, and even confusion but there were no traces of doubt or fear; they were also shining with unshed tears, but in the dim light, they only shimmered like the stars.

Torn between being stunned and moved, Ren's fingers trembled around the glass tear. When she finally found her voice, it only came out as a whisper.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Hiei couldn't answer. Why _was _he telling her all of this? She hadn't asked, the topic hadn't come up, and yet... It was as if his body had truly been possessed, he began to move forward and without a second thought, he'd taken her warm hand which held his mother's tear once again and pulled.

Ren could barely breathe. Hiei wasn't holding her tightly at all, but _he was holding her._ But this kind of holding was different; it felt much warmer and made it hard to think or do anything. The brush of his jet black hair tickled her cheek as his arms held her firmly in place. The tears were desperate to fall more than ever.

However, if Ren was surprised, Hiei was at least double that, but he didn't let go.

"...It's because I trust you."

Like a broken record, Kurama's voice was once again inside his head.

_'You're being blinded by your feelings."_

Something was really going on with him.

~.~.~.~.~

That did it.

The tears began to fall and I heard Hiei sigh so I could only guess that he was thinking once again about how weak and stupid I was being by crying, but what did he expect? He was just going to open up so completely to me like that, then tell me straight out that he trusted me and not expect me to blubber like a baby? Well clearly, he still didn't know me that well. But actually...

If I thought about it, what _did_ Hiei know about me? Had all this time really been spent together with knowing next to nothing about each other until right this moment? And it had been _Hiei_ who'd finally opened up. _Hiei!_ What did that say about _me_?

As crazy and unreal as it sounded, he was right. There really was a lot we shared in common. Of course, I couldn't even try to compare my past to his, but there were key parallels in each of our lives. From the beginning, we'd both been forsaken by a mother we never met, and we've dealt with things on our own, turning our backs on everything and everyone else, never really able to trust.

And right now, when I'd thought I'd just lost any and all trust I had managed to develop with everyone, here was Hiei telling me otherwise.

_Hiei __**trusted**__me._

He hadn't just told me either; he'd proved it by telling me what he did right now. Looking at myself, I couldn't help but feel ashamed; what had I done to earn any of his trust? Certainly not by keeping all of these secrets. But still for some reason, Hiei, who hated humans, who was always alone, who didn't trust... chose to trust me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from crying out.

And he called _me_ a fool.

"Hn." Even in that abrupt grunt, I could hear his smirk.

I gripped his shirt tightly. Hiei really _was_ thinking that I was being stupid, wasn't he!

...He would be right then, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing my free-falling tears though, so I kept my face down, but I couldn't hold myself back anymore. He'd really managed to bring me to my knees: everything that I had managed to keep hidden was flooding out, the barrier keeping Hiei out of my mind practically disappearing all together.

Like releasing a drawn arrow with stiff fingers, a barrage of my emotions and thoughts rushed towards Hiei and I felt him stiffen and groan in slight pain, releasing his hold around me to grab my shoulders and grit out for me to calm down before his head exploded, but everything was coming out so fast that I couldn't stop. I was even so caught up in it all that I didn't even remember that I hadn't wanted to show Hiei my tears when I looked at him.

"You're right... you've been right all along. I… I've been such a stupid idiot this whole time and I can't believe that I haven't been completely honest from the very start." My breath came out raggedly as I struggled with heavy guilt in my heart. "I don't deserve your trust, an-and I'm sorry- for everything. " I slumped over in defeat, feeling disgusted with myself as the tears threatened to spill again for the nth time. I had to hold them in though for the sake of looking pathetic.

Hiei didn't say anything and only patiently waited for me to collect myself, gazing at me steadily, waiting for me to gather my courage and talk.

After a few moments of silence, I finally pulled myself together and set my mind of telling Hiei everything. Instead of speaking out loud though, I help up my hand, and making sure he was watching, tapped the bruises around my throat lightly. Hiei growled, but didn't understand. Then the obviously simple solution dawned on me. _Our bond!_ Minoru might be able to monitor my voice and what I said, but he had no control over my thoughts.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated for a moment, "_Sorry, I'm just going to have to tell you like this."_

Hiei, although momentarily surprised, let me continue though the question shone in his eyes.

"_When Minoru grabbed my throat, he did something: I'm not sure if it was a spell or what, but as of right now he knows and is keeping track of everything that I say, so I have to be careful about what I say out loud._

Realization flashed in Hiei's eyes, "The bastard..."

I sniffed, "_I'm so, so sorry Hiei, for not telling or confiding in you when you've never doubted me. I've just been so scared, and- and he'd threatened to hurt Yukina and Botan! I didn't know what to do except what he told me to. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to them because of me." _My vision was once again going blurry with tears and I buried my face in my hands.

"_**I'm**__ the reason they're in danger. It's all me."_

I didn't even give Hiei a chance to reciprocate because I was suddenly confessing all of it.

"_When Kuro showed up in Koenma's office, he slipped me a message telling me that I had to go to the center of the park at midnight and when I did, it was Minoru who met with me. They've been using Yukina and Botan as bait. Then he told me he had a message for me from Asami: I've been officially invited to her palace; I even know how to get there now too. He also said they were willing to exchange Yukina and Botan for something, which he didn't tell me."_

_"There's more that happened though. At one point, he cut off a piece of my hair and took it with him. I'd asked him why he'd called me out alone in the first place. He said he needed to make sure of something- that I was the one they needed. And then I asked him what Asami wanted with me..." _The memory was clear as day in my head... and now it was in Hiei's.

His eyes widened as his mind absorbed the memory, but I wasn't done. When I said everything, I meant _everything_.

"_Every day, I feel like I'm closer and closer to understanding what Asami is after and why she's after me specifically." _I took a deep breath even though I hadn't said any of this out loud. I was really about to take the plunge with this; I didn't know if this was the right thing to do or how Hiei would react, but it had to be done now. No more secrets.

"_I think I know what my nightmares are really about- and they're not just dreams. There's something else, something I discovered back in the Makai that I kept from Koenma and you and I know I should have told someone right away but I-" _I faltered, but the truth seemed to be dawning on Hiei, so without another pause, I revealed the truth. About Raizen's secret past, his wife, Asami, and daughter, Kuri... and me, their descendant. There was no reason for him not to believe me either: it all made sense. It would explain of my spiritual abilities and why Asami may have wanted me. Besides, I had no reason to lie to him now.

Hiei's face had gone blank and unreadable, registering everything I'd just told him. He'd probably had his own theories, so I could only wonder how what I'd just told him was affecting him or if he'd had no clue at all and this was a complete shock.

When Hiei finally did say something, I was stunned to see the smirk on his face.

"Talk about spilling your guts."

I blinked, speechless. Finally, out loud, I said, "... That's _all_ you're going to say? You don't want to take back what you said? You're not even going to react, or get _angry_?You always get angry at me. "

Hiei grunted, "Hn. What would getting angry solve? And how exactly would you expect me to react?"

I searched his eyes and was amazed: he really wasn't angry.

My body decided just then to turn into jelly and I didn't resist as gravity carried my entire weight straight into Hiei with a light _whoosh_, almost knocking him over_._ Alarmed, Hiei tensed instantly, but I could only smile into his chest.

"I don't really know," I paused, thinking,"... I guess we have to tell everyone else now too, huh?"

I felt Hiei slowly rest his hands on my shoulders to keep me from completely keeling over, "Yes. When we share this with Koenma, we'll be able to use it to our advantage."

I closed my eyes, "What will they say when they find out?"

"I can't say, but it will be up to them to pass their own judgment; by then, we'll know who the true fools are."

I laughed. Even now in the midst of this disaster here Hiei was trying to cheer me up. For someone who claimed to be (although most of the time was) cold and reserved, Hiei had been acting quite... uncharacteristically recently.

"Well, that's me in a nutshell, but what about you?" I mumbled, feeling troubled. Hiei spent so much time being concerned about me, but how was he doing?

"Hn? What about me?"

"I mean, are you ok with everything? You waste so much time in comforting me that I'm starting to worry about you now. I- I'm here too you know. For you that is," I explained, a badly timed blush coming to my cheeks.

He smirked, "Who do you take me for? I'm not a sentimental weakling like you."

Usually a comment like that would make me mad, but it was the most Hiei-like comment I'd heard in a while. I smiled and pulled myself up a little to meet his startled expression.

"You don't have to keep pretending, Hiei," I laughed, "No one believes that tough exterior of yours anymore anyways." It was amazing how easily it was to laugh now. The situation hadn't changed much, our friends were still in danger and we still had to relay all I knew, but I couldn't help but feel like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I really _wasn't_ alone.

"Hiei," I began quietly, "Ever since I can remember, I've always been by myself and, though I can't possibly compare it to your own pain, I can at least relate on how you always did everything by yourself. I've always been doing things by myself too, so that's why I did what I did. I've never had people to rely on... until now. I'm sorry."

I was quite shocked to find a pillow abruptly stuffed in my face. Grappling with the fluffy enemy, I yanked it away from my face with a gasp. Hiei looked back at me with an almost bored expression, but it was impossible to miss the humor shining in his eyes.

Almost seriously, Hiei said, "If you apologize one more time, I'm going to have to smother you so I can put myself out of my misery." And then he did the last thing I expected him to.

He smiled.

He might as well have suffocated me; my breath had been stolen away anyways. This wasn't the first time I've seen one of Hiei's genuine smiles, but one thing that I couldn't explain each time was the way I felt like my heart was being squeezed or the warmth that would flood throughout my body not unlike the warmth of his direct touch.

But right now was different. I realized how little distance there was between us and then suddenly everything came into perspective and space around us grew heavy, the entire moment now so... _intimate._ His smile melted away; the shift in the air was thick and felt nearly tangible. No one was speaking anymore and all thoughts were gone from my head. It was absolutely silent now except for the drum that was my heart.

I couldn't help the question that popped into my head at that exact instance and I'm not sure if Hiei had already withdrawn into his own conscience to even hear it, but if he did he didn't let show.

_What exactly was going on between us?_

~.~.~.~.~

"WAIT!"

Everyone skidded to a halt, tense and alert.

"So... does this make Ren, like, my long distant niece, but a couple of generations removed?" Yusuke said slowly, looking utterly confused.

I scrubbed my face with a sigh. Where were Botan and Keiko when you needed them? They'd have no qualms about slapping some sense into him.

"Are you trying to be an idiot?" Hiei said, "We don't have time for this!"

"I agree, Yusuke." Kurama said, "We'll discuss this later."

"Come on Urameshi, don't you dare hold us up! Now that we know how to save Yukina we can't stop now!"

"And Botan." I added with a huff. Kuwabara gave me a frustrated glance over and abruptly turned away. I slumped a little. After telling them, I'd definitely been shocked by how relatively accepting they'd all been so I guess that the fact that Kuwabara still hadn't completely forgiven me shouldn't have hurt me so much. It was so much more than I deserved, and I could understand Kuwabara's irritation with me. It was obvious how much he loved and was worried for Yukina and it had been me who had put her (and Botan) in danger. I sighed.

We were at the park now and Hiei and I had revealed all the details only about an hour ago. It took a little while to convince them all that I really was telling the truth about Raizen, Asami, and Kuri (though I understood how unbelievable it all sounded) which required telling them more about my dreams. Thankfully, Hiei was kind enough to threaten anyone who began to pry into the details that weren't necessary to talk about.

Between Kurama just listening in surprised silence, Yusuke too caught off guard to actually think of anything to say, and Kuwabara barely able to stammer, Koenma won the prize for being the most vocal and visibly reactive about it. At first, I was worried he'd gone comatose because as soon as I let slip the fact of my lineage, he'd gone milk-white and absolutely still until we were done explaining, and _then_ he exploded. I wasn't so much in trouble as Koenma was more alarmed about the information I'd kept hidden that they could've acted on sooner. Then he'd started mumbling something about how his dad was going to kill him.

After I'd thoroughly apologized repeatedly, we were finally able to get him to calm down long enough for Hiei and me to finish and for me to pull out the small mirror Minoru had given me. I explained to them (though I was obviously doubtful myself) that it was supposed to grant us entrance into Asami's palace and that they were all 'invited' to accompany me. The invitation had obviously been a subliminal hint from the start that not coming wasn't a smart idea which was perfectly fine; they definitely would've all just come anyways.

They hadn't wasted any time in deciding that they were prepared to leave immediately and I had to agree as frightened as I was about the impending visit. After we would cross into enemy territory, we would lose home field advantage. But between the risk of the unknown and the risk of Yukina and Botan's lives, the choice was no less than obvious.

Koenma had told us he wouldn't be accompanying us and promptly vanished once more with a wary word of warning and a bid to be careful more than ever since now we knew that we were in fact dealing with _Raizen's _insane wife_._ At the time, someone had even cracked a joke about how that made Asami Yusuke's ancestral step-mother. He'd face palmed and mumbled something about how he didn't know how his family could be any more messed up.

"So where did you say this entrance was?" Kuwabara asked in the present, pointing into the park.

"Minoru didn't say where exactly," I said and stared at the small mirror in my hands dubiously. "I just assumed he wanted us to go back to the Siren's fountain and then he said when we were all gathered, all I had to do was tell the mirror to let us in and it would lead us to her palace."

"An opening in time-space perhaps," Kurama said contemplatively, "Regardless, we should remain on high alert from now on and take care in not splitting up; I feel as if our chances at successfully recovering the girls would be significantly higher that way."

Hiei turned to Kuwabara with a dark stare, "Kuwabara, you should consider staying behind. Your wounds haven't even completely healed, and as such, you'll only be extra baggage."

"Shut up! I'm fine!" He did in fact look fine...and with each passing second, maybe better than fine as he continued getting worked up, "Speak for yourself. Besides, how can you possibly expect me to sit back on the sidelines when they're in trouble?"

"I was only making a suggestion. There's no point in uselessly throwing away your life." Hiei replied.

"Why you-" Before Kuwabara could completely lunge for Hiei, I paused once the familiar gurgle of the fountain could be heard above the whistling trees.

"We're here."

It was as if the events from a couple of hours ago hadn't even happened (except for the very abnormal steeples of rock at the entrance) and some of the only proof that was left were the purple shadows around my neck. _Which still felt sore_, I thought with a grimace.

I turned to the others, unsure, "Okay, I'm going to do it." I took a calming breath and looked at the mirror.

"We're all here. Open the way to Asami's palace!" I said out loud, trying to sound like I actually knew what I was doing. I waited with bated breath.

Except, nothing happened. Birds crowed in the distance, flapping out of some branches, the morning sun just beginning to peak up.

After a minute of awkward silence, Yusuke finally came up behind my shoulder, "Maybe you said the wrong thing?"

"I don't know," I muttered with a flush and then tried a different approach, squeaking timidly and obviously unsure, "Can you please open the way to Asami's?" I felt like an idiot talking to the mirror, but I didn't remember Minoru mentioning any kind of password or special phrase that needed to make it work.

However, I didn't have to worry because just then I let out a startled gasp and instantly dropped the piece of glass; it had started burning white-hot, but when I checked my hands there were no marks on them. Hiei pulled me back as we watched the surface of the mirror began to glow brighter and stretch out like a widening hole. Before, there had been no breeze in the early hours of dawn, but now it was as if the lightest of forces was pulling us into the opening. Like an enormous black hole, it loomed in front of us cold and empty, waiting.

"It does appear to be a rip in space," Kurama remarked, "I don't doubt that there will be something waiting for us on the other side."

"Well, no point in stalling anymore. Ready or not, here we come!" Yusuke was the first to step up and without even flinching, leapt through the door.

"I'm coming for you, my love!" Kuwabara cried and hurdled through right after. With a sigh, Kurama gave Hiei and me a firm nod before going in.

Taking a deep breath for courage, I was about to take the plunge before Hiei put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a stern look.

"I've already told you I'll protect you, so don't worry; we'll get them back. Just stay close to me at all times." He ordered seriously. I didn't need the bond to read between the lines though his thoughts came to me anyways.

"_If you even __**try**__ to get away again, you __**will**__ regret it."_

Although I nodded quickly, the tiny hint of a smile flickered on my face and some of the fear was replaced with Hiei's strength. I would never betray him again.

Together, we went through the portal just as the hole sucking itself closed, promptly swallowing us in darkness.

* * *

><p>This one felt so much shorter than normal! Well, it's been 2 months and a half now? Quicker than last time! :D<p>

(Notice how I'm trying to be optimistic... OTL)

I really am sorry :( This chapter felt very forced so I hope it was still enjoyable and trust me, it was absolutely terrible when I first started getting it out. My lovely Betim came to my rescue though (my beta~!) and I feel so much better about it c:

Do any of you guys like the game Ib? :D If you don't know what it is, go watch Pewdiepie or Cry's videos on YouTube or go download it because it's such a good game! And speaking of Ib, PLEASE go check out **KC-Z**'s account (aka my beta xD) because she's started writing her own Ib fanfic and it's really good o_o Go go go! It'd mean so much if you could check it out because she's the greatest :3

So guess where I've been? :D I've been traveling the whole month of June in EL SALVADOR and got back last week on Saturday and also turned 18 on the same day! WOOO~ legal now ;D And I'm SO happy to be home OTL *homesweethome*

I've got a new goal too! Though it's definitely unlikely that this story will be finished by the end up summer because I've got Freshman year at college coming up (Gig'em Aggies! b ) I'm challenging myself to write it all! O_o So if anything, regular updates might become my thing in a little bit. So look forward to that.

Holy $hit guys. If you knew me, you'd know how I tend to space out/miss a lot of things all the time, so just today I was looking through this story and my eyes go up and I suddenly realize that I have OVER 100 FOLLOWERS. THAT'S INSANE. ;A;

Last but not least, my reviewers :3 I'm sorry, but I won't include any responses this time around because there are just so many now xD I'm trying to PM as many people as possible, but please don't be offended if I miss you D: If I do, it wasn't done intentionally! I want to thank everyone who's ever reviewed this story and helped me get this far! I feel like we're so close to the end now, though we still have maybe about 8-ish chapters to go :')

Okay, I'm done boring you guys now! Please stay tuned and I love you all! :3

**Love, InuChimera7410**

PS- congrats to stacikate16 for being the 200th reviewer and getting another one-shot dedication! We're already close to the next 50 mark, so keep the reviews coming xD


	21. Rescue in the Dark: Part I

Not up as quick as I wanted, but I got ... distracted with some things XD But you've got to admit this update came a lot faster than the last couple of ones! :D

Anyways, let's just get on with it!

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p>Chapter 21 : Rescue in the Dark: Part I<p>

"Oof!"

I landed on my butt, hard. Wincing and nursing my now sore bottom, the first thing that hit me was the musty smell that suddenly clogged my nostrils. Grimacing in disgust, I glanced around and saw that Kuwabara had also had an equally ungraceful landing. As Kuwabara muttered as he recollected himself, Hiei offered me a hand which I gladly accepted with a small word of thanks.

Rows of lit torches crackled brightly on the walls serving as the only source of light in the dim hallway. I turned around to see if the hole that had dropped us into this place was still there, but I was surprised to find myself looking out a window instead. Even more surprising was what I saw outside the window. Or rather _not_ outside.

Where there should've been a blue sky, there was only black space except for the red and white twinkles that littered the backdrop like tiny spots of paint. _Stars?_

"Where is this?" I asked out loud, thoroughly both confused and mesmerized by the scene.

"Yeah, are we in outer space or something?" Kuwabara gripped the window pane and gazed out with unbelieving awe.

"If you mean outside of Earth's atmosphere then I'm afraid not, but I suspect we've ended up in some fracture of space." Kurama said, glancing at the stars.

"What does it matter?" Hiei snapped, "We can't afford to lose any more time now that we're here."

"We know that Hiei. The only problem now is actually finding them." Yusuke glanced to his right and left, "So... which way do we go?"

I checked both directions. The hallway we'd landed in was long and symmetrical so I honestly had no idea which way would reap greater benefits. Kurama spoke up.

"Please give me a moment. Similar to the Makai, this pungent odor doesn't do anything to aid my sense of smell. Maybe one or both of the girls are nearby, but I will need a moment to sort through the different scents." Kurama finished and closed his eyes in concentration. We waited for him silently though after a little, it was obvious that the guys were getting antsy.

Suddenly, his green eyes snapped open and he turned towards one end.

"Were you able to find them?" I asked eagerly. Kurama nodded.

"Though the scent has faded, I recognize faint traces of Botan's scent lingering in that direction." He pointed, "Though it's not very strong, it is a start and with luck, I might be able to pick up on a better trail along the way."

"What about Yukina?" Kuwabara urged, "Don't you smell her too?"

"It's entirely possible that Yukina and Botan have been separated, but I might have just missed the scent. Regardless, we will not leave without finding both, but for now heading in this direction is our best lead."

"Hey Kuwabara what about that pinkie string crap you used to go on about? You were able to find her like that once, so how about now?" Yusuke questioned.

"Yeah, I already thought of that, but..." Kuwabara looked down at his hand in frustration and puzzlement. "I don't know how else to explain it, but imagine a phone line that's been cut. I can feel that she's here, but at the same time it's like she's... not."

"Alright, so the moron's lost his connection. Now let's go before we waste any more time with this nonsense." Hiei said. Although he was trying to keep calm, I could clearly tell was that he was anxious about what Kuwabara had just said.

"Yeah this place is too creepy to stay in any longer." I said and Kurama agreed.

"Remember to stay together: we will be better off with safety in numbers. Don't let your guard down, we're in enemy territory now and thus carry a disadvantage in that itself. Now, this way."

Hiei jerked his head at me, "Stay close."

"Right," I said and fell in step by Hiei as the group took off in a jog down the hallway. Though we reached another dim right or left hallway, Kurama didn't hesitate in turning left and we followed him without question.

With each closer step and turn, Kurama seemed to grow more confident in where he was going, but to me it felt like we were taking random turns in some kind of enormous maze that only led to more hallways, each looking exactly like the one we'd started in.

However, only a few turns later we abruptly found ourselves in the center of a large circular-shaped room. At least a dozen doors lined the walls and Kurama cursed lightly, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve for a moment.

"Damn. I haven't lost her scent completely, but there's a much more putrid odor overpowering it. It's closing in as well. Be on guard! Something is coming."

Kuwabara felt it soon after, "Yeah... I can sense a bunch of points of spirit energy closing in!"

Falling loosely back to back, I ended up in the center of the four boys, the rate of my heart beginning to pick up. Suddenly a floating whirring noise started echoing in the walls, but as the moments passed the noise only got louder, becoming angry snorts and screeches. The shadows in each different direction grew darker as they charged and came closer.

"That sounds like a lot of somethings," I gulped. Sensing an inevitable battle, I let my energy begin to circulate and directed some to my hands where they began to glow with power.

"I was starting to wonder if anyone was home!" Yusuke cracked his fists in anticipation. Kuwabara was quick to follow with his spirit sword.

"Bring it on! I only sense weaklings anyways. Taking down these measly demons will be a piece of cake." Kuwabara cried, swinging his sword in example.

Suddenly a mass of demons burst from each opening and in no time we were surrounded. The room began to swell with large howling and screeching demons that each had a sporting range of nasty, sharpened weapons.

"Um... maybe a couple of pieces." Kuwabara coughed.

Kurama flicked out his rose and wasted no time in transforming it into a lethal whip. Almost immediately he swung it forward and large black droplets of blood spattered the wall as a handful of the demons were instantly taken out. His whip coiled around one of the weapons, and after yanking back on the whip, a silver blade stained with dried blood glinted as it went sailing through the air.

"Hiei!" he called.

Getting the hint, Hiei held out his arm and easily snatched the katana out of mid-air. Spinning the hilt a few times for good measure, Hiei grinned.

"Not really my taste, but beggars can't be choosers I suppose." He smirked and gripped the hilt with both hands, letting himself automatically adjust to the weapon and feeling more in familiar territory than he had in a while.

Glancing over his shoulder, Hiei spared a moment to look at me, "Ren, focus on protecting yourself. We'll handle this trash in no time at all." Turning back to the chaos, Hiei easily beheaded three more demons, but there would be no break.

It was true that they were obviously weak despite their gruesome appearances, but it was just their endless numbers that was causing the most trouble. They only kept coming and attacking us in all directions without rhyme or reason. Our loose circle easily broke apart, scattering us.

"Shot gun!" Yusuke called somewhere behind me and there was a flash of blue and the howls of evaporating demons, but the large gap that had been left was quickly filled with more screeching demons. Kuwabara's golden sword slashed in and out of my vision, but it was hard to focus on any one thing- everything was happening too fast to really register.

I heard a vicious growl to my immediate right and I spun around to stare into yellow, spidery eyes. With a cry, I focused a lot of energy into my hands and pushed the beast as hard as I could. There was a squeal and then my arms were covered in a warm and sticky liquid. I stared open mouthed at the gaping hole that now rest where the demons stomach had once been. Staring at the rotten insides, I almost lost my own stomach.

Too engrossed with my first kill, I would've been a goner if Hiei hadn't noticed a separate onslaught of demons coming at me. He slid in front of me and with only several solid swings, the demons fell down dead. Then from the side in Hiei's blind spot, a demon with a wolf-like head charged straight for him with outstretched claws. I immediately put out my hands.

The wolf was thrown off to the side with a loud whimper, the barrier I'd just created around Hiei already dissolving. It had bought him enough time to send a startled glance in my direction, but then the next second was already back to spending keeping the demons at bay.

As easy as it was to strike the demons down, I knew the guys would tire out eventually and if I tried to make a bomb, there was a good chance I'd hurt one of us in the process. I'd considered the possibility of making a barrier to wrap around all of us, but that would ultimately be useless and a waste of energy because then there would've been no way out and I would tire out eventually myself. There really seemed to be no end to them, but saving Hiei had just given me an idea: we just needed to buy a little time.

"Kurama!" I tried catching his attention by jumping up but Hiei skewered another demon that almost got me from behind.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He yelled at me, but I only turned to him and blocked another attack before yelling back.

"Of course not! I need to get Kurama's attention- I have an idea that might help us get out of here. Just cover me for a second."

Before Hiei could protest, he was already back to slicing and dicing, but I didn't doubt for a second that he would have my back which was confirmed seconds later when we promptly beheaded another demon that had aimed for my side. However, I could see the way his attacks were getting slower and how his breathing was getting heavier; he wasn't going to last long.

Motivated, I pushed and shoved my way towards Kurama who was a lot cleaner than either Hiei or me but still seemed to be having difficulty keeping them all at bay.

"Kurama!" I called again. I saw his eyes flick towards me and with a harsh swing he tore apart another wave of demons before landing by my side.

"I think I can do something to help." I said breathlessly, "How long do you think it will take you to find Botan's scent again?"

He frowned, "At least several minutes. Why? Duck!" He lashed the whip over my head.

I felt my resolve crumbling, but forced myself to get a grip. _Several minutes...Yeah! I can do that!_

"I can buy us time for a little, enough for you to pick up the trail again. Then all we'll have to worry about is getting through, but at least we'll be back on track. I need us all back together though."

"Behind you!" Hiei barked at me and I turned around, swinging my arm on instinct. Half of a demon's face flew off and I withdrew my hand, cursing colorfully and flapping it in the air. How did Yusuke and other people go around punching others all the time? _That hurt!_

"I'll get them," Kurama said quickly and plowed his way through the horde to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"I want to be as close to the middle of the room as possible. It'll be easier for me." I said.

"Easier to do what?" Hiei asked, but I was too busy fighting my way to the center to bother with answering him.

Just short of getting there, a stream of blue crossed directly in front of me and I squeaked in fear. It had missed me by inches! Yusuke followed by Kuwabara and Kurama ran up to me in alarm.

"You idiot! Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Hiei shouted at him, but I shook off the brief scare. There wasn't any time for arguing between explaining my idea and continuously defending ourselves.

"Never mind that. If we time this right, I'll be able to buy Kurama a couple of minutes to find the right door. Listen, when someone slams into my barrier they ricochet off of the surface; the harder they slam, the better. If it's possible, I need you guys to make- eep!" I ducked automatically as a demon was sliced over my head, courtesy of Hiei. Wasting no time, I started up again. "-to make them all back off for just a couple of seconds and when they come charging, I'll create a barrier to blow them all back which should stun them for a second or two. It's important that you don't attack again after you push them back. I'll hold it up for as long as I can but when they all start coming back I won't be able to protect us as long as I wish I could so that's all the time I'll be able to give us. Will that work Kurama?"

"It seems that it will have to." Kurama said with a nod. I steeled my resolve.

"Will you be able to keep it up that long?" Hiei asked with disquiet. I know he was aware of my limits but I nodded firmly. I was ready as I'd ever be.

"Okay then! I'll be happy to get rid of more of these bastards!" Yusuke said and turned around to punch one of said bastards into a larger group of them.

"Right then, all at once." Kurama said. On a count of three, the team lashed out and killed the immediate front attack from all sides, giving me an approximate five second window. I closed my eyes and concentrated, focusing the energy around my entire being, stretching it over the others. Two seconds. They were almost upon us once more. One.

I cried out, snapping the barrier open as hard as I could. There were collected squeals and shrieks as the demons slammed into the barrier- I winced- and were promptly thrown into the opposite direction at the exact same force. Forcing it wider, I was able to push the barrier out a few more feet to give Kurama the space he needed. I was fine for now, but when they started recollecting themselves and applying force to the barrier, I wouldn't last long. Luckily, Kurama had already started concentrating on the different smells, trying to find that one specific one again.

I tensed. There were already some demons trying to barrel their way in on one side. They were getting up a lot quicker than I thought they would.

"Hurry up Kurama," Hiei urged as from the outside, more and more demons were finding ways over to the edge of the barrier.

"Just a moment," Kurama muttered.

The sounds began to pick up again and it had only been barely a minute. I began to struggle under the strain. The longer I held it, the more it felt like I was trying to carry an elephant in my arms.

"Ren!" Hiei knelt beside me just as my knees gave out. The demons were banging and beating on the surface now with ballistic ferocity. I gasped at the pain in my arms as they began to shake in mid-air. That was two and half minutes. _Just a little longer..._

"Kurama!" Yusuke cried out urgently, the blue light of his spirit gun already glowing at the tips of his fingers in preparation for the worse.

"There's just no end to them." Kuwabara grit out.

I was at my limit. I couldn't do it anymore- the barrier erupted around us with a loud shatter, but then it was at that moment that Kurama's eyes snapped open.

"There!"

I couldn't see where he had pointed, but Yusuke whooped and fired his spirit gun, clearing a direct path to the doorway. Strong arms wrapped around me.

"Hold on!" I did what Hiei said immediately, too dazed to think much of anything else. My body felt like lead but I was vaguely aware of being pulled up onto his back. Leaning heavily onto him, I allowed myself to be carried away as the noises faded behind us completely.

~.~.~.~.~

"Come on, get a hold of yourself! If you need to pass out, do it _after_ we get out!" Yusuke shouted into my face.

I vaguely realized that my shoulders were being shaken back and forth. The world that had once been a fuzzy blur was now coming back in a whipping streak.

"Enough!" Hiei shoved him out of the way and I groaned at the oncoming pounding in my head that I was getting from having my brain tossed around.

"What..." I mumbled, still dizzy, looking around at each of their faces and noticing that I had somehow ended up on the floor. We'd stopped in a new room and I was surprised by the extra furnishings; bowls of fire that hung from the ceiling served as the only points of light and tall gargoyles were perched along the walls like the knights you would find in a medieval castle. The air felt cooler and damper than before.

"Don't worry, the light-headedness should pass quickly. Holding your barrier that long against all those demons must've over-exerted your body's limits for a short time." Kurama explained calmly, "We managed to escape pursuit though; we're safe again, at least for the moment."

"I feel like I just ran a marathon. I'm sore _everywhere_," I winced in pain as I tried to stand up on my own. My arms felt like jelly and I wobbled when I was fully upright.

Hiei scowled at me, "Tch, that's why you shouldn't be so reckless."

"Hey, I helped us out though didn't I?" I snapped, tensing as an ache swept through my body, "Oww... "

"Will you be able to go on?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to go slow." I said.

With a small shake of his head and without even asking, Hiei pulled my arm over his shoulder, "Here, lean on me. We'll be faster this way until the soreness fades."

"Are we ready to keep going yet or not?" Kuwabara called impatiently from a little up ahead. "We've got some girls to save still. A few bumps in the road aren't going to stop me, especially since now we're for sure Yukina is with Botan!"

"She is?" I exclaimed, perking up.

Kurama nodded, "I caught on her scent not long ago and she is indeed at least in close proximity with Botan. We're close now as well; the trail has become quite strong."

"Judging by the feel of air and slope, it would seem that we keep going down. We're probably looking for a dungeon." Hiei remarked.

"Yes, I thought so too. There are likely to be guards posted as well. I think it'd be best to behave a little more quietly from now on so as to avoid any other run-ins." Kurama said.

"Ha! If we can deal with a never ending wave of demons, nine or ten dumb ass guards are going to be no problem." Yusuke snorted.

"Unless they call a never ending wave of back up." I frowned worriedly, not liking the sound of a dungeon at all. However, we set off once again, albeit a little more stealthily and slowly this time though I did constantly try to stand up on my own weight as we went. My mind betrayed me with horrible imaginations of torture rooms, chains and worse things when I thought of dungeons, and now Yukina and Botan were supposedly in one.

"Calm down," Hiei said firmly as the images in my head began spinning with worry, "We'll find them- they'll be fine." Although Hiei told me that, I couldn't tell whether he was trying to soothe my worries or his own.

We turned down a particularly dark corridor and, after reaching the end, stopped at a long, stony staircase that stretched down and disappeared into looming darkness. I shivered.

"They're down there?" I asked in dismay.

"I'm afraid so." Kurama had already retrieved a torch from the wall and took the first steps down, the rest of them falling into single file order behind him. Yusuke went last to cover our backs.

I was just waiting for one of them to yell at me about my loud, obnoxious beating heart. I could've sworn it was echoing off the walls while I was waiting for some kind of rigged trap of flying daggers or falling stone, but I was perplexed to see only moments later another spot of light towards the bottom of the flight and the closer we came, the easier it was to make out different noises: the chinking of metal, scuffling, snorts. I shrunk into Hiei.

Finally reaching the bottom, a dark, heavy door with a bulky cauldron handle and set of bars as the only windows revealed itself to be the source of light. Kurama pressed against the wall of the door, peeking through the bars, but from my angle, I could make out a long hairy snout and a chipped tusk. Kurama held up two fingers.

Stepping back, Kurama reached inside his shirt and pulled out a small blue flower that gave me a sense of déjà vu (Hiei scowled)*, plucked off two petals and blew them towards the open space. Almost immediately, two simultaneous thumps hit the door as the demons fell into a dead faint.

Yusuke put his hands on his hips, "I could've taken those two out a lot quicker Kurama."

"Yes, but that would defeat the purpose of silence Yusuke. We don't want to summon any more unnecessary attention."

"Enough chit chat! I'm coming Yukina!" Kuwabara promptly kicked the door down with a single super stomp, flattening the already incapacitated guards. "Lead the way Kurama!"

Kurama sighed, "Such impatience," but gestured at Yusuke, Hiei, and I to follow. I brought my hand up and pressed it to my face in the only way I could in an attempt to block out the stench. It smelled putrid down here and I was surprised Kurama didn't have to stop to recollect their scents again; between the mix of decaying corpse and the occasional grimy demon prisoner, it was difficult to breathe without wanting to gag. We rushed past countless of occupied cells and I stayed as evenly in the middle as I could to avoid any arms reaching out to try and catch a hold of us. It was like another maze.

Kurama paused at a four-point cross section, a grimace playing on his expression. "Their scents are too intermixed with everything else in this place, but I'm positive they have to be in one of the cells around this area."

"Let's split up. We'll find them faster that way." Yusuke suggested.

"While we might find them faster, I'd still be concern-" Kurama was cut off when Kuwabara suddenly hurled himself down the middle way.

"I'm comingggg Yukinaaaaa!"

Kurama pinched his nose, "Very well, but don't wander. I'll take the left path. I'll leave the right to you three; check thoroughly."

We nodded and turned down the right path. We'd actually picked a pretty vacant hall at first glance. Each cell we peered into was empty.

"They must not be on this side," Yusuke said glancing back at me and Hiei after checking another empty one. "And I'm not sensing their ki or anyone's anywhere nearby either."

Hiei grit his teeth in frustration, "Kurama's age must finally be catching up with him."

I bit my lip. _What if they're just not here at all?_ I mused worriedly.

"Here Hiei, I think I can walk on my own now." I pushed against his shoulder feeling like my legs would be able to support my own weight again. I stumbled forward a little but instead of falling, heavily hit another cell. I groaned in frustration but managed to push myself straight without too much of Hiei's help. However, it was then that a flash of blue caught my eye. My stomach dropped.

I tripped over to the other side, only two cells down by Yusuke.

"_Botan_!" I cried grabbing the bars. It really was her and she wasn't alone. Yukina was lying on her shoulder. They were even awake- their eyes were open! I hadn't realized that Yusuke had already called Kurama and Kuwabara back from the other side until Hiei was pulling me back as Kurama took out his rose whip again. In two single slashes, the rusty bars were sliced away creating a large hole. We sprinted inside.

"Botan, Yukina! We're here now!" I grabbed Botan's shoulders as Kuwabara tended immediately to Yukina. Their clothes were a little cut and they were dirty, but otherwise they seemed completely unhurt at which I sighed with immense relief.

However, Botan only flopped like a rag doll as I shook her. Her head drooped when I stopped. Thoroughly confused at Botan's lack of response, I tensed with worry.

"Botan, can you hear me?" I whispered carefully. Then I tried making direct eye contact.

It was like looking into a corpse's eyes: vacant, cold, and lifeless. I would've thought she really was dead if it hadn't been for the regular rise and fall of her chest. Flinching away, I let her go and scoot back.

"Something's wrong with her!" I whispered hoarsely. Beside me, Kuwabara also seemed to be having no luck. No matter how he tried to rally her, Yukina only looked on without really seeing.

"Kurama, what's going on here?" Hiei demanded, kneeling beside Yukina.

I quickly moved out of the way to let Kurama check Botan. He looked into her eyes for a moment and then visibly tensed. Kurama cursed under his breath, backing away.

"Don't mutter Kurama! _What's wrong with them?_" Hiei repeated.

Instead of immediately answering, Kurama turned to Yusuke with a grimace, "Yusuke."

"Yeah, I think so too." Yusuke closed his eyes in frustration.

"Ok enough of the secrets! If you know what's wrong with them, tell us!" I said.

"You are not exactly one to talk, Ren." Kurama shot me a glance and I wanted to go crawl in a hole, but he continued on, "I'm surprised you didn't recognize it right away Hiei; though fortunately they appear reasonably unhurt and their bodies are indeed functioning properly, the technique that's been used is not so different from the Orb of Baast**."

"The Orb of Baast?" Hiei froze and let that sink in, "Their souls have been taken?"

"Their _souls_?" I repeated, horrified.

"What?!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"The ideal hostage," Kurama muttered with a frown, " They're nothing but empty shells right now. It should've been obvious that there was more to it to begin with, especially with how easy Asami made it to find them. So far we've only encountered weak, lowly demons and two guards whom were the easiest to dispatch of so far, no doubt. No dungeon is that easy."

Yusuke looked like he was about to punch a hole through the wall, "Damn it! It's like they're just playing with us!" I couldn't help but feel that Asami really might be doing just that.

"Let's go get her then and get their souls back!" Kuwabara shouted, standing back up, "Nobody does this and gets away with it!"

"Wait, we can't just leave them here." I protested. If we left them here, there was no telling what could happen if someone came. Unfortunately, even though we would have to take them, it would only serve as a lose-lose situation. If we came across any more trouble, keeping them safe would only serve as a handicap.

"Here," Yusuke easily pulled Botan over his shoulders, Kuwabara reaching Yukina first before Hiei could get her himself. Other than scowling with bitterness, Hiei didn't make as big of a fuss as I'd expected him to. Maneuvering carefully back through the dungeon, we were able to quickly and safely climb back up the stairs without running into any trouble. However, in the brighter light it was clear to see how both Botan and Yukina were frighteningly white with no color in their face.

"Now, if I were Asami, where would I be hiding?" Yusuke looked around questioningly. We were in trouble. Even though we'd retrieved the girls, we now had no idea where to go. The plan had been to get the girls and get out... I sighed. I could see where we might've had few holes in this.

"Who says we have to go find Asami?" Kuwabara protested, "We have to find their souls!"

"The chances of finding them anywhere else than with Asami are small," Hiei said, "If it were me, I would find that having them would be the fastest and most effective bait and bargain to draw us in, and from there on manipulate. I can confirm this from experience." He added that last part with a small smirk at Yusuke who proceeded to slap Hiei a little too cheerfully on the back.

"Ah, good times... hey, wasn't that the time where I kicked your ass, Hiei?"

As expected, Hiei angrily caught his arm before he could hit him again, "You only won from _dumb luck_."

"If you say so, Hiei." Yusuke grinned knowingly with a laugh.

"I actually have to agree with Hiei on that point, Yusuke." Kurama chuckled.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?" Yusuke exclaimed.

Hiei made himself so easy to tease and rile up, I felt sorry though admittedly I had to stifle my giggles. Also, I was curious as to what they were talking about, but I would have to ask another time because just then Kurama and Kuwabara both sensed something at the same time and whirled around to look down a hall.

Yusuke readjusted Botan, quickly sensing the shift in mood, "What's wrong?"

Kurama turned to look at them, "It'd be wise if we started moving. _Now."_

Kuwabara whirled around, Yukina securely in his arms "What he said! Let's go!"

"Wait! Go where?" I worried, glancing at all the different paths, but then I heard the familiar screeches closing in quickly and it didn't matter where we had to go, just that we should be going the opposite way. Kuwabara was already sprinting down another hallway.

"Damn it!" Hiei cursed and pushed me forward, "Start running! Don't look back!"

I was barely able to keep up with them being barely recovered from my fatigue, but the thought of having those demons overwhelm us again was so unpleasant that my legs practically grew wills of their own to keep moving fast.

"Now what do we do?" I yelled, panicked. There was something different about the noises- they were much louder and coming up much faster than before. I choked on a cry; in a few moments, we'd be overrun if we didn't lose them.

"Just keep going!" Yusuke shouted from ahead, but all I could see ahead of us was a long, straight hall. There was nowhere to go.

"Ren!" Hiei shouted.

My vision sailed past my eyes as something snapped both my legs together and I went down hard. For a terrifying moment, I couldn't move them as if they were bound by something. I scrambled to look at my legs but there was nothing holding them together and I didn't see anything I could've tripped on. But I did see the black mass of racing forward from the mouth of the hallway.

Hiei tried yanking me up, but my legs refused to cooperate. It was like lead weights had been chained to them.

"Hiei, I can't stand! My legs!" I exclaimed in horror.

"What?"

"Shit!" I heard from ahead as Yusuke and the others realized that Hiei and I weren't behind them anymore. I saw them turning back and heading towards us.

A breeze tickled my face and I froze; Hiei had felt it too. Glancing to the left, my breath caught as we found ourselves looking down another dark hallway. _I'm sure that wasn't there...!_

Hiei cursed in frustration and gripped my arms, making a decision right away, "To hell with it! This way!"

Hiei forcefully dragged me in as I struggled to make my legs work again. Kuwabara followed by Kurama and Yusuke came in a second later and not a second after that, there was a loud rumble over our heads.

"What the?" Kuwabara glanced up and his eyes widened. "Guys, look out!"

Two slabs of rock crashed downwards. Hiei pulled me into him just in time to miss getting squashed by one of them while Yusuke jumped to avoid getting Botan and him crushed from behind. There was a flurry of crying demons for an instant before we were closed in and the entrance was completely sealed.

"Thanks," I muttered to Hiei weakly, though I didn't try to move away from his grip, shivering for several moments more in his arms.

For a minute, all I could hear was the chorus of our shallow breathing and the rapid thrum of my heart against Hiei's chest... or was that his? My head was too overwhelmed and spinning too quickly to actually process anything except that whether it be from the adrenaline or something else, I suddenly found my legs no longer locked together.

_What on Earth?_

"What the hell! Are you guys oka-" Before Yusuke could even finish his question, a third groan came from above and a third slab sailed down.

"Watch it!" Hiei gripped the collar of Kuwabara's shirt and yanked him back, giving me only one brief and final flash of the surprise on Kurama and Yusuke's face just as the final rock sealed itself into the ground. As soon as the dust settled, the realization set in. A single torch on the wall was the only light we had: with me, there was Hiei and Kuwabara who looked as stunned as I felt, Yukina still safe in his arms, but Yusuke, Kurama, and Botan...!

"Yusuke, Kurama!" I shouted in distress, stumbling over to the rock that had just divided our team, "Can you guys hear me? Are you ok?" I asked desperately. I pressed my ear hard into the rock.

To my relief, I was elated to hear light coughing! _Thank goodness! It sounds like they're still there!_

"_What the fuck was that_?" I heard Yusuke start shouting from the other side.

"We're alright here. Is everyone on your side safe?" I heard Kurama ask. Though their voices were muffled, we could hear them fine.

I first nodded before realizing that he couldn't actually see me, glancing at the others, "Yes, we're okay."

"Great idea! What kind of place did you drag us into Hiei? And we've even been separated from Urameshi and Kurama!" Kuwabara started fuming, but Hiei only ignored him and stepped up beside me.

"Kurama! Is there any way you can cut this wall down?" Hiei said to the other side.

"Stand back," came his reply. We all moved to the other side, as far from the wall as possible. There was a sharp series of _clanks_ but the wall didn't budge.

Kurama's stifled voice floated over, "For some reason, my whip's thorns can't penetrate this wall."

"I thought they could cut through rock!" I protested.

"They should... these walls appear to be constructed with some other material." He replied grimly.

"Then how about I just blast it down!" Yusuke suggested and we frantically scrambled away from the wall once more.

"Urameshi are you crazy! Even if you get the wall, you'll just get us too!" Kuwabara shouted in a panicked tone.

"Yusuke, the risk is too great. You'd just end up injuring them all." It was a good thing that Kurama was there as Yusuke's voice of reason otherwise he might just end up doing something stupid. I sighed in immense relief.

"Well damn it! What are we supposed to do then? If you can't tell, we're all kind of trapped in these forsaken-" Yusuke shut up. There was the sound of rock sliding again, but thankfully not from above like before. This time one of the rock walls slid down and soon enough we found ourselves staring down another path.

"What kind of castle is this?" Kuwabara exclaimed, very confused, "Why do the walls keep _moving_?"

"Kurama, a path just appeared for us." Hiei explained through the wall.

"It happened for us as well." Kurama replied.

I peered down the pitch black hall and shivered. Glancing at Hiei, I asked, "What do we do?"

Hiei frowned, closing his eyes for a moment, "Hn, what do you think? We move forward."

"I was afraid of that." I said faintly.

"We're going ahead," Hiei informed the other side, "It appears we don't have much choice."

"No, it appears we do not." Kurama said. There was a pregnant pause and then seriously he said, "We'll be going on as well. This troubles me deeply, but what's done is done. We will be looking for your scent, so try not to wander too far off. Be careful... you don't consist of an ideal group."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuwabara huffed, but taking a look at each of us, I pursed my lips, knowing full well where Kurama was coming from. Sure Kuwabara might be able to hold up his end, but he had Yukina to look after, then there was Hiei who still had the stolen katana (though it was quite feeble looking after how banged it up it had been already) but there was only so much he could do, and then there was me who could do even less. Yes, we get into a lot of trouble.

"Regardless, stay close and watch the walls; we don't want to be separated further. Good luck." Kurama said.

"We're going to need it," came Yusuke's quiet response and then there was a brief patter until it was completely silent. I rested my hand against the wall and heaved a sigh.

"And then there was less..." I mumbled. "Okay, let's go. There's no point in stalling anymore. Can we take the torch at least?"

Hiei tried to pull it off the wall, but it wouldn't budge. I gulped.

"Perfect." He muttered. "We'll just have to keep close so we don't get lost in the darkness."

"Okay. I'll lead, since I'm the only who can actually see in the dark and I'll be able to sense anything else that comes our way. Ehh, this is pretty spooky..." Kuwabara trailed off as he took off down the path.

Hiei beckoned for me to follow him, but I had to muster my courage. Sure I wasn't afraid of the dark, but this was _dark_ dark.

"Are your legs ok?" Hiei asked. I nodded.

"Yes, I don't know what happened. It felt like they were tied together with weights, but it's ok now. This place gives me a really bad feeling though." I confessed.

"It's not exactly homey." Hiei smirked and I smiled a little.

"Come on guys! You're already falling behind- I don't want to get separated again!" Kuwabara called from somewhere ahead. I could barely make out his silhouette.

"Let's go," Hiei said and turned to go, but before taking another step, he reached behind and snatched my wrist. I jumped in surprise, the warmth from his touch soothing my nerves.

"...So you don't get lost." He muttered. I stared at his back; my heart skipped a beat and my cheeks warmed. Even so, I nodded, suddenly losing my voice.

"Okay," was all I could manage and together we went into the dark. Only then did I tug his hand down until it was touching my own. I even squeezed his hand, more for myself as a reminder that he was right there in this void. Thank Kami it was so dark because now I really didn't want to be looked at. I squeezed my eyes in distress, thankful that Hiei was there to lead me. _Why won't this stomach ache go away?_

_It's too fluttery_ ...

Then I heard the small exhale of breath, a combination of a small sigh and a chuckle, and I felt a reciprocated pressure on my hand. I almost ripped it away in alarm when my breathing hitched, but managed to keep enough cool not to freak out so obviously... and I'm glad I didn't because I didn't really want to let go.

_In the dark like this, I feel like there's absolutely nothing... nothing but Hiei._

~.~.~.~.~

"There's a right turn here, so don't run into the wall or anything." Kuwabara announced, ending the unbroken silence.

Walking blind had made it feel like they had been walking for hours, but it couldn't have been more than fifteen to twenty minutes. Maybe. Hiei really couldn't say, having already lost all sense of time and direction. It had been straight forward since the beginning though so when Kuwabara spoke out so abruptly, it had startled him out of whatever trance he'd taken to. He hadn't even realized he'd zoned out.

His first instinct was to check over his shoulder, but recalling the darkness he focused on his right hand and realized that there was, indeed, a continuous warmth that seeped into his fingers and throughout his body. Perhaps it had been this warmth that had lulled him so easily. He shook his head with annoyance. He couldn't let his guard down, especially in this place where he couldn't even rely on sight.

This was something he hadn't experienced before though: this complete loss of sight. Never before had he been so blinded; he'd always had the jagan when typical sight had failed him, but now he didn't even have that.

He felt a light squeeze around his fingers and twitched. Ren would do that every now and then and it was interesting to feel what she felt when she did. There was the fear of the dark, yes, but there was also safety and when she would squeeze, comfort and relief. As if he was about to let go, he scoffed in his mind.

"I hope the others haven't run into any trouble..." Ren said out loud, stopping his train of thought.

"I'm sure they're fine." Hiei replied. The question had crossed his mind a couple of times already but what good would it do to worry when the situation was out of his control; he could only rely on Yusuke and the fox to handle themselves with Botan as well as they could. However, he needed to focus on what he _did_ have control over and that was here with Ren and Yukina. The moron lingered somewhere in the recesses of his mind.

"...Asami is leading us straight to her." Ren whispered.

Hiei almost stopped walking before remembering _again_ that he still wouldn't be able to see her face. He decided that it was annoying to not be able to see that dumb expression of hers that she surely had on right now, "Is that a fact?"

"Yes...well, no, but like I said, I have a bad feeling. Where else could we be going than to her? Separating us like that, completely in control of where we're allowed to go and how easy it is to get there; she wants us to go meet her and she doesn't want to go through the trouble of moving herself."

"I guess we'll see if we ever get there."

"Hiei." He felt her hand tug for an instant and in that instant he was suddenly hyper-aware of the alarm that swept through his limbs when he though she was going to let go and be abandoned in the darkness, but it hesitated as if rethinking and she adjusted her grip instead as if to counter the act of almost letting go.

"...I'm sorry." was all she ended up saying, but there was something more that went unheard; a hidden significance in the words she hadn't said rather than the ones she had. But she wouldn't let him in at the moment and so he couldn't understand. He could normally read her so well, so easily, but again the _dark._

Annoying had just become _irritating_. He just needed one glimpse at her face and then he'd know. He was sure.

Then the most unexpected noise resounded behind him. A tiny sound, yet so loud in his ears that it practically echoed.

Ren was... laughing?

"What?" It came out harsher than he'd intended, being so irritated, but she didn't seem to notice or necessarily react to it. When she spoke, even without seeing her in the light, at least he could imagine the small smile that lit her face.

"It's just... kind of funny. Who would've thought that we truly _do_ have a lot in common Hiei. It's ironic, really."

"What?" Hiei couldn't help but feel more irritated. This girl did nothing better but confuse him, always catching him off guard whenever he least expected it. "Where is this coming from?"

"Don't act so shocked," She smiled, "_You_ were the one who first told me that anyway..."

Ah, that was right. He had told her that last night... It was becoming uncomfortably hot. Hiei grimaced, unconsciously going to grip his glass tear which he'd also let her touch then.

"Yesterday, you told me all about you, all that's happened in the past..." she paused thoughtfully, "I want to do the same, so please just listen to me. You don't have to say anything. I... I just want to prove to you that I... that I trust you too."

Hiei honestly didn't know how he should be reacting. Proving? Trust? Why did she feel the need to...?

"I've never told anyone this and I'm not telling you this because of a desire for sympathy. Like when you told me, I want you to know this about me because... just because." She fell silent for a moment.

Hiei's grip tightened around her fingers. She took a breath.

"I've lived my whole life with my uncle. From the moment I was born, I was always with him, and for the longest time after that I never thought about my parents. There was simply no need for them because Mako was all I ever knew... and needed, but there was always that nagging curiosity when we'd go see a movie together or go the grocery and all the other little kids would be with their parents. Every kid seemed to have them wherever I went, and I knew I had my own, but it wasn't until I was older when I finally gathered enough courage to ask Mako straight out. I'd already spent so many nights wondering and imagining stories about the parents I never knew, but then I couldn't help but wonder other things like why weren't they with me in the first place and why I had to be with Mako instead of with them. So I wasn't about to take no for an answer... Even now it hurts a little to think of all those wasted nights.

"I understand now why Mako was so set on not telling me what I wanted to know, but I was so stupid back then. Heck, I'm still stupid, but I must've been an ungrateful brat because the things I remember yelling at him were nothing short of cruel for the man who'd given up his life to raise me. Because that was what he had really done... chose to give up his youth to take care of me where my mother wouldn't.

"After I'd screamed and done my pouting, I was pleased when he gave in. Really, I'd thought, they were my parents, I _deserved_ a right to know as their child, but I was too naive to even have it occur to me that I might not really _want_ to know, that Mako was protecting me in keeping me in the dark. Ignorance is bliss after all.

"We took a trip the very next day. I was excited because we'd never gone on a vacation before, but the look on his face... it was so sad. I couldn't understand why he wasn't excited. I asked him about it and he said he wasn't, but that we were going to go see my mother. And I couldn't believe my ears, couldn't believe what he'd just told me. After all that time, I was finally going to get to see her with my own eyes. I dropped the subject, running back into my fantasies of what having a real mother would mean. I dreamed up all kinds of things.

"We drove into a little town. I honestly don't even remember what it was called, though I wish I did. I expected for us to stop for a snack, but Mako didn't stop. We actually pulled up by a small house and then I realized. _This_ was it. This was all that I had been waiting for. This one beautiful, magical moment... She was here.

"At the time, I didn't get why Mako couldn't be happy for me. All he would do was sigh and look so sad. The sad look would _not _go, but it only made me annoyed. Annoyed because I would finally be happy. Why couldn't he see that, I thought.

"We reached the front door and those few seconds spent waiting were like an eternity. My mother was behind this thin piece of wood. This was our reunion and we would be together at last."

Ren stopped talking for a long moment.

"But it wasn't her."

~.~.~.~.~

_An ashen, wrinkled face poked out of the door. Dark eyes narrowed as they fell upon me and I stepped back in fear, sliding nervously behind Mako's leg. Who was this old woman? This couldn't be my mommy! My mommy was supposed to be beautiful... Just as I was about to ask Mako who she was, the stranger suddenly gasped._

_"Makoto!" She exclaimed, the astonishment blunt on her face._

_"Mom," Mako greeted stiffly. _

_'Whaa... Mako's mommy?' I thought in shock. 'Of course, Mako has a mommy too, but why is he being so cold?'_

_"This is... unexpected." The woman sniffed. This was weird. If this was Mako's mommy why wasn't she hugging him or doing something mommy-like? It seemed like they hadn't see each other in a long time! Suddenly, the old woman was pointing at me and I felt shy. "Who's this?"_

_"Mom..." Mako then sighed, passing a hand over his eyes, "This is Eiko's daughter, Ren."_

_After he said that, I'd never been so scared. The old woman looked truly evil and she stared at Mako with a cold, cruel glare. Then she looked at me and I felt petrified._

_"How __**dare**__ you... how __**dare**__ you..." She chanted like a mantra, stabbing a bony finger that shook with anger. _

_Mako put his hand around me, taking a step back, "We weren't planning to stay. After this you'll never have to see us again... Please, can I just have a word with Eiko?"_

_The old woman stopped speaking then, but hobbled back into her home, but now I could see that her shoulders were quivering. She was also shaking her head._

_Then with a look of absolute disgust, the woman shrieked, "Eiko's dead. She killed herself six years ago. Now you show up at our door with this __**bastard**__- has our family not suffered enough shame?"_

_And the door was slammed in our faces. _

_I didn't realize that I was trembling, but when I finally looked up into Mako's face I almost started crying; he wasn't just sad anymore. Mako looked... broken._

_"Mako," I whimpered, tugging on his sleeve. He wouldn't look down at me for a moment, but when he did, he bent down and gave me a big hug. I couldn't stop shaking though; that had been so scary. _

_"Yes, honey?"_

_I couldn't hold them back anymore; fat tears rolled down my eyes, and I gazed at him wistfully, "What's a bastard?"_

~.~.~.~.~

"My mother's name was Eiko Hashi and when she was sixteen years old, she drifted into a bar late at night, had a few too many, and ended up having a one night stand. There was no love involved and Kami knows who the man was, but in the morning, all she was left with, though she didn't know at that moment, was a bad hangover and me.

"If being that young and pregnant with a fatherless child was bad enough, she lived in a small town and having a bastard child... well, those kinds of scandals could permanently ruin a family. I've never actually lived in a small town, but from what I hear, the judgment and close-mindedness is normally cruel and merciless.

"When she found out, she confessed everything to her family and begged them for help. However, without a thought she was immediately shunned and in an instant she became dirty and disgraceful in their eyes. After her family had turned her away to avoid the shame that she would bring with me, her child, she ran off to the only place she thought of and that was with her older brother, Makoto, who was twenty-one and in university by that time. He accepted her because that's what family is... a family is supposed to consist of the people that will always be there for you, through thick and thin. So she stayed with him for months, like a leech, until I was born.

"Surprisingly, she actually stayed long enough to name me, but then, only a few days after she'd been discharged from the hospital with me, Mako went out shopping for groceries while Eiko stayed home with me and when he came back... she was nowhere to be found. After investigating it for himself, Mako was able to discover that my mother had actually gone home, back to the family that had initially disowned her. She told them that she'd ... got rid of _it_ and that she wanted to be a part of the family again.

"Mako went back home to confront Eiko, but when he tried to talk about me, my mother denied my existence and the family, afraid at the chance of their name being tarnished once again, devoured her lies and instead shunned _Mako_. Mako, who had only done everything for her out of love, was cruelly betrayed by his own sister.

"And that was the end. He never returned to that town until that day when I went with him. He really had no idea about what happened to my mother. She took a bottle of pills and was found dead the next day, and that was it. And yet..."

Hiei had remained absolutely silent the entire time she'd been speaking and, up until now, she hadn't shown any sign of distress, but he could feel the tremors in her hand and the thick emotion that welled up inside her now.

"And yet... I still could never get over her. No matter how hard I tried to hate her, to resent her for everything she did to me, to Mako... I only felt hollow with the desire to have been with her. Even though she never wanted me, even though she tried to deny my existence... all I wanted was a connection with her, the chance to make memories, to laugh, to cry, to love and be loved by her. That's all I wanted; what I still want, but will never have."

Her voice cracked and Hiei's chest squeezed disturbingly.

"Hiei, remember that ribbon I always used to wear?"

"...Yes."

"It was her favorite one, you know. She would wear it every day when she was living with Mako. He actually found it on the floor after she left and when I finally knew the truth, he gave it to me. It used to be my most cherished possession and I know it must sound ridiculous, but like your mother's tear, by tying my hair up with that ribbon, I could imagine that connection. Even if it wasn't real, it was all I had; at least, that's what I thought until... Hiei, I know this might seem a little out of the blue, but remember that night at the park by the fountain where you told me... that I should wear my hair down? Without even realizing it, by taking off that ribbon I felt like I'd been freed from my own imprisonment. For years, I'd have that ribbon as a constant reminder, and even now that it's gone, lost in that fire, I still feel a little sad, but I'm not weighed down by those dark memories anymore. I can finally look to future properly, and I still feel like it was all set in motion because of you. So... thank you."

For an unexplainable reason and for the first time, the words seemed to lodge themselves in Hiei's throat.

"Why... did you tell me this?" he finally said, and he already knew her answer because he suddenly saw himself last night and the words from then.

"Because... I trust you with all my heart."

Then he knew; he just _knew._ Hiei let go of her hand, ignoring her gasp and sudden fumbling in the dark. He felt her hands looking for him, moving frantically in search of security, but he was moving with a different intention. He brought up both his hands, finding her shoulders, and then moving them up to her face. With his thumbs, he delicately touched the surface of her cheeks. They were wet.

Past annoying. Past irritating. Past _infuriating_.

This was _maddeningly unbearable. _

_What kind of look did she have on her face right now?_

"Hiei," There was the slightest tremble in her voice. In just a whisper of his name, a question was being asked and naturally he was expected to respond, to say something, but what could he say when he suddenly found himself shying away from it. What kind of answer was she looking for? But also...what was going on with _him_?

"I-"

Any opportunity he'd had to say anything was missed because just then low vibrations could be felt beneath his feet until they had grown to all of them and there was a steadily growing grumble emanating from the walls.

"What's happening?" Ren cried out.

"I think this place is about to cave in!" Kuwabara abruptly announced and Hiei flinched at the sound of his voice, astonishment briefly replacing alarm. Even for a little, how could he have _completely_ forgotten that Kuwabara _was also here_, and with his sister no less! To think he'd been so absorbed that even Yukina had slipped from his mind...

"Run! This way!"

Grappling blindly for Ren's arm, Hiei grabbed it and then started sprinting after Kuwabara's voice just as the first series of collapsing rubble began to resonate around them.

"There's a turn here. Left!" Kuwabara shouted.

Hiei abruptly yanked Ren to the left and barely missed hitting the corner. Then to his shock, he realized the he could _see_ Kuwabara's silhouette lining itself against the shadows as the darkness began to ebb away. They must've been nearing an exit!

"Yes! See that? There's a light up ahead!" Kuwabara rattled excitedly as he continued to sprint forward, ducking over Yukina's body to keep her covered from any stray debris.

The fool didn't lie. There was tiny blue speck at the end of the hallway and it only grew as they ran until it was a glowing opening.

"The exit!" Ren shouted in excitement. "We're so close!"

In the elating moment, Hiei almost missed it coming. Along with the crumbling ceiling, other loose pieces were falling down behind them. There was a particularly loud crack as a large chunk began to fall. In the dim light, it was like a blanket of darkness coming down, _down_- and Ren was right below it.

Kuwabara and Yukina were out, Hiei himself only seconds behind, but it was upon her- there was no time. Using the last split-second, he resigned any thought he had and willed his body to just _move._

Adrenaline bursting through his blood, Hiei yanked Ren _hard_ and threw her ahead despite her shout of surprise. She fell through the door way into the light; she was out. Relief overtook him, but not very long.

Hiei grunted sharply as a violent burst of pain tore through his shoulder and there was a harsh pop; his entire arm went numb.

"_Hiei_!" Ren's panicked voice barely registered as he stumbled forward, reaching out-

The last thing he saw was Ren's outstretched arm as the doorway smashed itself closed in a final deafening crash.

* * *

><p>*Haha! Chapter 3 memories :D (If you don't remember, it doesn't surprise me because they were barely mentioned XD This was when Kurama had to knock Hiei out because he was being a baby about having to be staying with Ren as if she were his baby-sitter!)<p>

**The Orb of Baast was that green sphere that sucked out souls at the beginning of YYH when Yusuke met Kurama and Hiei for the first time :D

CLIFFHANGER! SEPARATION! DUN DUN DUN!

Phew! Another chapter finished! I think this one is one of my better ones, plus I liked all their in/direct Ren + Hiei moments together :3 Did you? Let me know with a review, if you don't mind! OH! And Ren's past! What'd you think about THAT? Personally, I've always been really pleased with it (even from the beginning, this was how it's always been so out of all the changes I love that I could keep this the same!) I don't see it as making her a cliché protagonist with a pitiful past because I don't think she's the cliché heroine either. At least, I hope she's not O_O

Like I mentioned above, I got a little distracted recently xD You know, with Free!... and Attack on Titan... OTL THEY'RE SO GOOD OMASDHKLFS... But I still love YYH so no more (major) distractions for me! I will resist temptation! `'

AS ALWAYS MY LOVELIES, thank you SO MUCH for all your follows and reviews ;A; 15 more people started following too! ... ( '~") yes,ikeeptrack... *mutter*... quitefrequentlytoo...

Next up, Rescue in the Dark: Part II so look forward to it BD

If convenient, review below.

If inconvenient, review anyways.

...

Sherlock fans anywhere? ;D

Love always, InuChimera7410


	22. Rescue in the Dark: Part II

HELLO.

Yes, I'm alive.

College.

'Nuff said.

OTL

Enjoy~!

* * *

><p>Chapter 22: Rescue in the Dark: Part II<p>

For an instant, I couldn't move; I couldn't peel my eyes away from the spot that had just been open moments before but was now a smooth wall as if it had always been that way. My hand which had been fully prepared to pull Hiei over was still stretched out. Like a movie, the scene replayed over and over in my mind like a sick joke.

"No..." I whispered, "No...!" I half crawled, half stumbled to the wall, uselessly banging on the surface with my fists. "_Hiei! _Can you hear me? Please answer me! Hiei!" Near frantic, I urgently reached out with my mind through our bond, but with sinking horror, I only found myself reaching and reaching as if he were moving farther and farther away. _This can't mean-!_

I desperately hit the wall, but my hands did nothing to even remotely mar the surface. The softer skin of my hands scraped painfully against the rock and might've even started to bleed, but I wasn't aware. All that I cared about was... _Why did he pull me ahead...!_

"Please, no...Hiei..." I choked on his name, my voice becoming thick. I shakily slid onto my knees, my legs suddenly unable to support me anymore. "Hiei..."

"No way..." Kuwabara came up to the wall from behind, Yukina safe in his arms, a slight quaver in his own voice. "This can't be happening.

"I can't feel him anymore. Everything...everything was still falling! What if he's _hurt_? Or even worse, what if he's-" _No!_ I had to cover my mouth to stop myself, though there was nothing I could do to ebb away the build-up behind my eyes; I couldn't say _that_, couldn't _imagine_ it being true. He couldn't be-

"Don't worry- he's not dead. At least not yet."

Kuwabara cried out in surprise and whirled around beside me, but I reacted a lot slower, the dread making my body heavy; a pair of stray tears slid down my face and I slowly turned around.

Not ten feet away, Asami rested upon a throne of black marble, a slender white finger, rested on her cheek. Her gaze was chilly and sharp, and a ghost of a smile was on her lips. In the dim light, she was surrounded by a soft, eerie glowing.

I shakily got to my feet, "What have you done with him?" My voice cracked, and I felt like when Asami looked at me again, I was naked under her eyes.

Asami's eyes narrowed and I had to suppress a shiver of fear, "Don't tell me…" She paused and a subtle realization became alight in her eyes. "Oh, for goodness sake. It's not your fault, of course, that you've been tainted by dirty blood. Darling," She paused for an instant and my breath caught, "humans and demons can _never_ be together."

"What?" My heart twisted painfully. However, beside me, Kuwabara growled loudly and whipped out his sword, holding Yukina tighter. Asami didn't even bat an eye as he pointed the tip in her direction.

"I'm sick of your yammering! That's the biggest load of bull I've ever heard! Why can't we be together ? I might as well do everyone a favor and put you out of your misery right now, even if you are a girl."

Asami smiled languidly, "Now that's a surprise. Chivalry? That's almost funny… you humans are truly trash. The world is polluted with your sheer inanity."

"Shut up! Give us back Yukina and Botan's souls and if you do in the next three seconds, I _might_ not run you through with my sword." Kuwabara shouted.

"What? These souls?" Asami presented her hand palm-up, and we watched in trepidation as two soft, silky orbs of warm light appeared. Kuwabara's reaction was instant; he jerked and went stiff.

"That's definitely Yukina's soul…" Kuwabara was trembling now and he glanced down at Yukina's white body and quietly set her down on the floor. I realized a moment too late what was happening.

"No, wait Kuwabara!" I shouted, but he had already charged straight ahead, aiming for the souls Asami literally held in the palm of her hand. I watched in silent horror as Asami lifted her free hand and stretched it out. The tip of Kuwabara's sword was inches from her heart and she hadn't flinched at all; her curled finger barely brushed his forehead.

She flicked.

Kuwabara went rigid and my breath caught as the light left his eyes and his pupils rolled to the back of his head.

"Kuwabara_!_" I shrieked as he shot backwards like a bullet, and was about to be smashed into the wall across the room. I thrust my arms out as fast as possible.

There was an enormous cloud of dust and rubble flying and cutting all around me, but I struggled to hold my ground.

Asami exclaimed lightly when the flurry had settled, "Oh my. I'm impressed."

From when she'd launched Kuwabara, I had managed to wrap him in a shield to protect him from the worst of the collision just in time; the shield had left a perfectly smooth carved section of wall which still had smoke licking up around the edges. In the exact center, Kuwabara was slumped over, unconscious with blood running down his face, but alive. I panted as the world began to blur together, struggling to get a hold of myself and stay on my feet as I stumbled. _Come on, I can't check-out now!_

Asami turned away from the sight and I was shocked to see her steely eyes dissolve into…_concern_?

"You have to be more careful with yourself, dear. You've come a long way in such a short time but you won't be of any use to me if you become reckless and end up doing something you'll regret. You have to stay well for mommy."

Asami was practically cooing. I couldn't believe my ears. _Mommy?_

She slowly stood up, the pair of souls in her hands shimmering, and turned her head slightly and blew out. From thin-air, tendrils of ice wove themselves into a spherical cage before she opened it and let the souls spill from her fingers. She shut it gently and flashed me a knowing smile.

"I'm really glad you're here Ren. I am." She'd suddenly become so gentle. "You understand why I can't give you back these souls, don't you? Even though you're here, I can't have you doing anything rash." Her gaze flickered towards Yukina's body and something dark flashed in her eyes.

I was terrified.

She was truly a beautiful creature to behold, but in her air, in her posture, in her _eyes_: something dark and cruel lay underneath it all, just more twisted from time.

I rushed over to Yukina's side and kneeled down, settling myself between Asami's gaze and her. She tilted her head with a click of her tongue.

"There's no need to be so cautious child. Do you really think I have any intention to harm you?"

I didn't answer her, constantly glancing over at Kuwabara with a growing sense of despair. _Come on Kuwabara, please wake up!_

"What do you want from me? And I mean _really."_

My voice echoed throughout the large room and Asami actually paused in her trek.

"Didn't Minoru tell you? I want-"

"My body and soul, right?" I shakily spat out, "Yeah, I got that, but _what for?_ How does this fit into your twisted scheme?"

If I didn't know any better, I'd almost have thought that an expression similar to pity crossed Asami's face at that moment.

"Oh, sweetheart, you're afraid. There's no use in hiding it either. You've been shaking like a leaf... well, there won't be any need to be afraid for much longer. I assure you that."

I backed up, my heart pumping a mile a minute. "What are you going to do to me?"

Asami sighed, "You're really asking me to spoil the surprise so soon? It's a shame, but you do need to know. Unfortunately, I need your consent after all."

"My _consent_?" A shocked laugh escaped out of my mouth in disbelief, "Are you serious? You go out and hurt so many people and you think, whatever I need to for, I'm going to give you my permission for it?" The words just spilled from my mouth. Asami didn't blink.

"Oh, you will say yes. I have no doubt."

"There's no way you can make me." I lashed back.

"Oh, but there is. Except I take back what I said before. There _is_ something good about you humans. Granted, it's only one good thing, but still: your pathetic, bleeding hearts."

I withdrew slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

"You all care so much, it's ridiculous. You're all _so_ easy to _twist_, to manipulate, it's absolutely delicious. And that's why you'll say yes, one way or another. Everyone has that chink in their armor, and you my daughter, might as well be the lamb thrown to the lions. Your heart is much too vulnerable; there is too much _love_." She almost spat out the word, as if it made her sick, "You've given me such a palette to choose from. Let's see... Ah, of course there's always your family, if you can even call it that. Makoto ,poor fool, rotting away in that hospital as we speak."

Fear and anger flashed through me, "You wouldn't dare touch him."

"Oh wouldn't I? Then, let's see, what else...ah, there are your new friends. Can't forget about them; I have two of them already and trust me, if it was that easy to get theirs, it wouldn't be much harder to get the rest. I can always go straight for the kill, too, if I'm really feeling grumpy." She paused to shoot me a shrewd look. "But of course, we're skirting around the _real_ prize here, aren't we? Your most vulnerable point." She annunciated each word, and I tensed up at each one.

"What do you mean?" I asked, but she only looked at me knowingly.

"I think you know exactly what I mean. Did you think I was talking to that miserable fool before?"

My heart leapt into my throat and dread flooded my veins, and I looked at the ground, desperate for her piercing gaze to redirect itself somewhere else. "No, that's not-"

"Come now, Ren. Don't lie to mommy. After all, I know you better than anybody."

"You're not my mother!" I burst out, my head snapping up. My heart was racing, my body trembling. "Why do you keep saying that? My mother died a long time ago. I don't know what game you're trying to play, but you need to stop, or I'll shut you up myself."

Asami rolled her eyes and snorted, "_You'll_ make me shut up? Please, you're a little mouse compared to me. What do you think you can do to me? Oh, don't give me that look. True, your shamed, biological mother may have died years ago, but I am your _true _mother. It's in your blood, and not just that."

_Not just that?_

"What are you saying?" I asked out loud but then I knew that _this_ is what it was coming down to, what it had always been about.

What Asami really wanted of me.

"It's been far too long sweetheart; several centuries too many. I've waited so long... Kuri."

~.~.~.~.~

The first thing Hiei noticed was that he was still alive and breathing despite the fact that he'd nearly been crushed by the raining debris only seconds ago and was once more cut off from any light. The second thing was the immediate pain that shot up his entire side when he tried to roll his shoulder; that falling chunk must've dislocated it somehow. But what hit him the hardest was the fact that it had just been a fraction of a moment that had separated Re n and himself.

At this moment, Kuwabara was now the only able fighter responsible for protecting both Ren and his sister's life, and frankly, that did _not_ sit well with Hiei. At all. For all he knew, the room they'd been led into could have contained anything; maybe they were more in danger than they just had been in.

_Ren!_ Hiei tried to grab onto their bond and he instantly felt her wave of despair. Frowning, but relieved that he could still sense her, he leaned against the wall that had separated them in an effort to make the connection as close to her as it could be. _Ren, are you alright? _

But there was no response from her end, only the vague feeling of her alarm. Almost immediately though, the bond began to fade as if she were moving further away. He aggravatingly tried to reach her, but his thoughts only echoed emptily in his own mind.

"_Damn it_!" Hiei was already getting worked up, different scenarios speeding through his head, but he had to make himself calm down enough to keep a focused mind. He couldn't let his anger and worry get the better of him, not right now when there was a much greater need to attend to, and to accomplish that he had to work his way out one step at a time with clear, conscious speculation. Before anything else, he fixed his mind on his first goal: getting out.

Feeling around with his good arm, he cursed angrily each time pain from his other one would shoot up and even temporarily paralyze him. He gritted his teeth in frustration. His pain tolerance was incredibly low_; _to think that he'd allow a simple dislocation to cause him this much distraction was infuriating. He had Ren and Yukina's _lives_ at stake and his body was only slowing him down.

However, anything he managed to move around him only registered as small chunks of rock that clattered to the ground, stirring up small clouds of dust that he coughed on. It was also difficult to maneuver around at all and not fall over the debris.

But after what seemed like hours, though in reality was only minutes, of searching, he resigned that he could find no possible exit.

Feeling a new wave of desperation that was fueled by his inability to see and helplessness, Hiei was able to grit through the pain for a second when he jerked to the side, pulling out the katana he'd stored at his side and began swinging in the darkness. As the metal struck stone, he was granted flashes of vision as sparks flew. Over and over, he swung until his arm burned, but nothing budged.

"_Damn! It!" _He cursed each time he'd strike the blade, each time harder than last but all he was rewarded with were two aching arms, probably a ruined sword, and lack of breath. Was he running out of air to breathe as well? It didn't help that he'd just over-exerted himself so badly that his body was taking heavy pockets of oxygen that he didn't have to spare. His demise was an eminent ticking time bomb if he didn't find a way out. He swung his sword harshly against the wall in frustration.

He couldn't die in here like this!

Stepping wrong on a spot with loose rocks, he yelled loudly in pain as he landed badly on his already ruined shoulder. For an instant, he went numb with pain, but it came back all too quickly and it was all he could do to just sit up, scratching himself against the jagged edges in the process.

His breath was becoming shorter; he couldn't get the air he needed. The pain was becoming too much to ignore.

...Was this really the end? Was he, Hiei of the Jaganshi who had survived countless times in much more dangerous conditions, really going to die from something as measly as _suffocation?_ Going to die here in this tiny cramped space, completely and totally _alone?_

Hiei shut his eyes and tried to regain his focus, sacrificing more air for deep breaths that he needed.

_No._

If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting. He wasn't about to give in to the darkness without a struggle.

In a moment of vulnerability, he gently rested the palm of his good arm against the bolder and slowly picked himself up, feeling a new rush of strength course through him. However, just as he had managed to right himself up, there was a light tremor beneath his fingers. Pausing, Hiei was unsure whether he'd actually felt that or not, but soon enough the rock wasn't just vibrating but beginning to rattle in place.

_Is it going to cave-in completely?_ Hiei steeled himself, throwing himself into a corner to avoid any more falling pieces as best he could. The walls were rattling violently now; it felt like an earthquake. How the entire space hadn't collapsed yet was a miracle. Lifting his good arm over his face, he braced himself, shutting his eyes tightly with gritted teeth.

He was going to survive this or die trying. He was going to-

Suddenly, the rattling _stopped._ There was a light whoosh and a cold breeze hit Hiei's face. The dark, musty air had instantaneously been replaced by sweet, cool _oxygen,_ which he coughed on unexpectedly.

_What?_ He opened his eyes and was instantly blinded. He was beyond confused and quickly tried blinking out the large white spots that clouded his vision. The light wasn't even that bright; however, being in total darkness for an extended amount of time had made his eyes sensitive.

Gripping his limp arm and automatically pulling back in a defensive stand, a reactive habit he'd developed, he stared around in shock. Gone was the tiny, cramped space he'd been about to die in, and instead, he suddenly found himself looking down another identical hallway of Asami's castle. He spun around, unable to comprehend what was happening. There was no closed wall but simply a stretch of carpet that went on and branched into more halls, like all the others he and the others had been trailing down not that long before they'd been separated.

_What the hell is going on? _Had he just been teleported? Pushing aside his shock for a second, he tried once more to connect with Ren. His blood ran cold when he realized that he could barely feel her at all now; her end had gone completely silent. The bond hadn't lit up yet between them so that gave Hiei some hope that they weren't that far, but for all he knew the bond could've extended so much to this point that they really were a good distance away.

Now he actually had no idea where any of them were. For all he knew, they could- his shoulder twitched and he hissed loudly in pain, the ache jolting him out of the thought. He couldn't keep standing here, even if he didn't know where he was. He need to do _something_, pick a way and get moving before something happened and it was too lat-

"Kurama duck!"

Hiei whipped around in incredulity. _Kurama!?_

The opening to a hallway several feet behind him suddenly spat out a sharp beam of blue and there was a series of shrieks as a good handful of demons were either slammed or dissolved into ash as the powerful blast of energy hit them. Not a moment later, Kurama- Botan carefully adjusted on his back- leapt out, Yusuke following close after, shouting.

"That's what you get you sons of bitches!" He cracked his knuckles with a grin.

Hiei still couldn't believe his eyes, completely caught off guard. Kurama was the first to notice him and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Hiei!" He exclaimed in astonishment. Yusuke lowered his fists in confusion and jumped when he noticed Hiei.

"What the hell? Hiei!" He shouted and the pair quickly jogged over to meet him.

"Hiei, what happened? How'd you get here? Where are the others?" Yusuke started shooting off his questions rapidly, but Kurama only had to catch eye contact with Hiei for a moment to understand that something had terribly gone wrong.

"Oh shit, what's wrong with your arm?" Yusuke freaked. Caught off guard by the alarm in his tone, Hiei glanced down at his arm for the first time. He started slightly at the sight; despite being definitely dislocated at the shoulder, about half of his arm had turned a sickly purple, yellow, and slight green where the bruising had begun to spread; tiny, dried bits of blood dotted where some of the sharper shrapnel had managed to cut skin. He could feel other places all over his body that were bruised and lightly cut, but his arm was definitely the worst off at the moment. However, his physical wounds weren't even a priority.

Hiei waved him off angrily, "It doesn't matter. Kurama, I need you to put my shoulder back into place."

Kurama grimaced, "Before that Hiei, explain what happened."

So to save time that they didn't have, Hiei summarized about walking in the darkness, the cave-in, and then the most baffling part about the cavern shaking and suddenly finding himself in the hallway seconds before Yusuke and Kurama had joined him.

"So what, you teleported here?" Yusuke asked with a face. Hiei glared hotly.

"You think I know? Regardless, Ren and Yukina are currently alone with that pretentious moron. I'll be damned if you think I'm going to let anyone, even you two, slow me down."

"Calm down Hiei," Kurama said, "Don't take our reaction to mean that we're not equally as worried, but have some faith in Kuwabara; he's not as weak as you think he is, but you're right about him being the only one able to protect them right now. However, in case you haven't been aware, we don't exactly know where we are at the moment, so let's start there."

Frustrated, but anxious to get going, Hiei didn't reply, but insistently jerked his bad arm towards Kurama. "Fine, but I need you to fix this!"

Gently easing Botan off his back, Kurama approached Hiei's arm carefully, gingerly taking his arm into his hands. Hiei grit his teeth, determined not to show any of the pain this was causing him.

Kurama beckoned Yusuke over and spared one glance at Hiei, "This is quite bad... it's going to be slightly painful. Feel free to squeeze Yusuke's hand if you must." Kurama gently, but firmly began to grip Hiei's shoulder.

"Do you think I'm a _five year old child?"_

"Sometimes," Kurama muttered, "Now, on three. One,"

Kurama snapped the dislocated joint back in place with sharp accuracy; Hiei cried out as the jagged pain that shot through his body only blazed for a little longer than an instant, leaving behind a deep ache. Groaning slightly, Hiei tested his sore arm. There were still the bruises and the pulsing aftershock of the fast relocation, but this pain was totally bearable compared to before and now he could actually move his arm again.

"What happened to 'on three' ?" Hiei muttered , tenderly rolling his shoulder, and Kurama smirked slightly.

"You're welcome."

Suddenly, a light moan interrupted their chatter and they all froze to spin around.

It was Botan.

Color came back to her face and her breathing became stronger. Her eyes had also slipped closed and it really looked like she was just sleeping now. Her body began to rustle as well.

"Botan?" Yusuke exclaimed and rushed to take a hold of her shoulders, Kurama and Hiei right behind him, "Botan, can you hear me? Botan!"

Watching with bated breath, they watched in shock as she groaned again, her lashes rustling briefly before her eyes slowly opened. Though she blinked tiredly, the glaze that had coated her eyes had vanished and she looked at them clearly.

"Yusuke...?" She croaked weakly, her throat slightly dry from lack of use.

Yusuke sighed out loud, "No way... you're really back! How the heck are you back?"

Botan only looked at him sleepily , not fully able to register what was going on.

Kurama nudged Yusuke out of the way, "Yusuke, give her space. You're alright, Botan. How are you feeling?"

Botan looked over at Kurama and managed to crack a tiny smile before she lost grip on it, "I'm fine... I just feel so tired. I...can barely keep my eyes open." And just like that, Botan's head went down and she began to snore lightly.

Kurama shook his head, "I understand that she would be tired- having her soul ripped from her body for so long, it's only natural that her body would need to rest in order to function again, but I don't understand how her soul just_...returned._"

"Is it even possible to think that Asami might have purposely returned it?" Hiei asked. "What about Yukina's soul then?"

"I honestly have no idea, both being very possible. However, we just have no way of knowing until we find them."

Hiei growled, "Something is going on."

Yusuke crossed his arms, "Alright, so what's the new plan?"

"I've all but completely lost where Ren is. I can barely feel her through the bond." Hiei said.

"So we're basically sitting ducks."

"Poetically put, Yusuke." Kurama sighed, gently grabbing Botan and resting her once more on his back.

"Hey, you know me."

Hiei grit his teeth, "We're not going to get _anywhere_ if you continue on with your ludicrous nonsense."

Yusuke threw up his hands, "Well, sorry! You're supposed to be the psychic one. Oh but wait, you _aren't_ because you freaking lost your powers to a low-life demon!"

Hiei glowered dangerously, the blood beneath his skin coming to a slow boil, but the insistent logical side of his mind came forth and held him back. He took a deep breath, "Enough, Yusuke. If you're looking for a petty fight, so be it, but hold off until we're out of this forsaken hell-hole: you shouldn't be playing with fire anyways. "

Yusuke blinked once, twice, "Uhh... right."

Kurama raised an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised, "If I didn't know any better Hiei, I would almost say that was slightly... mature of you."

Hiei glared at him and snapped, "Shut up. I'm just aware of what's at stake right now."

"Are you really so sure about that?" A soft voice inserted.

They all whipped around, tense and ready for another fight.

"You've got to be joking," Hiei hissed.

From a shadowy corner, a figure stepped into their line of sight.

"Tatsuya , " Hiei spat, "And here I was thinking we were going to get lucky enough to never have to see your face again."

Tatsuya grinned smugly. Hiei paused for a beat, in confusion. An inexplicable feeling washed over him. Almost instantly- he couldn't decide why- he knew there was something very..._off._ Tatsuya's stance: he seemed tense, nervous maybe? _What the...?_ Hiei thought.

"Come to pick a fight? Not the brightest bulb, are ya?" Yusuke drew back his arm, his fists already surrounded in a wispy blue light.

"As much as I'd love to, I'm actually busy." Tatsuya said.

"For someone so busy, you don't look like you're in a hurry." Hiei growled, searching his gaze. Then he froze. Just below the crooked white ghost of the wound Kurama had inflicted long ago, a small piece of cloth was wrapped tightly on his wrist. From where he stood, the tips appeared slightly frayed and burnt, but a vivid memory flashed through his head.

"_This ribbon used to belong to my mother..." _Ren's voice echoed clearly, _"This is the only thing I have of hers."_

"Where did you get that?" Hiei snarled. _That should've been destroyed in the fire, unless..._ "It was _you.._."

Suddenly, Tatsuya jerked his wrist out of sight, and they watched in shock as he whipped around and started running.

"No way in hell am I letting him get away!" Hiei growled and took off after him, not bothering to check if Kurama and Yusuke were right behind him.

"Wait Hiei!" Kurama said from his side, easily syncing with Hiei's pace along with Yusuke on Hiei's other side.

"We can't afford to be reckless right now!" Kurama said, "We shouldn't waste time trying to get Tatsuya when we must still find Kuwabara, the girls, and a way out. He obviously wants us to follow him- everything about this seems wrong."

"We don't really have any other lead here! Maybe the sucker is taking us right to them!" Yusuke argued.

"What else could it be than a trap?" Kurama reasoned.

"Then let it be! I don't care." Hiei retorted and said no more, but Kurama was right about one thing: something was definitely not right. In the distance, Hiei could still make out Tatsuya's back as it would flicker behind a corner, keeping him out of attack range for Yusuke and Kurama but always in sight.

_He's deliberately letting us follow._ _If he really wanted to lose us, he could've already done it. _He didn't think he was just slowing them down either because if he really wanted to stall, why didn't he just attack them. No, he was purposely leading them.

Hiei didn't voice any of his thoughts aloud, keeping his eyes fixed ahead, not letting up for a moment.

_I'm coming._

~.~.~.~.~

"You're out of your mind." I said shakily. "What are you even talking about anymore?"

"Don't pretend you don't know Ren. You can feel it can't you? Deep down inside, ever since your energy was unlocked. Haven't you wondered why you began to get such vivid dreams when this all started?"

"H-how did you know I was getting dreams?" I asked weakly.

"Minoru confirmed it for me. I can even tell you why you're really getting them: your life is a glass and every feeling, every memory you experience goes into that glass. In your case, your dreams are Kuri's, _your, _past memories and feelings just overflowing. For as long as I can remember, I've been searching for your reincarnated soul, Kuri. It's taken me years, millennia, but I've finally found you. Now come, sweet heart. We can finally be together again. I've waited so long..."

"Shut up! I'm not your daughter and I'm not Kuri! She died a long time ago." I shouted at her. _This isn't happening, this isn't happening...!_

Asami didn't flinch, her eyes instantly turning dark and full of hatred, "I, of all people, would know that, being that I was the one who discovered her."

My blood ran cold, "What? Did you...kill your own daughter?"

Asami closed her eyes, the ghost of a smile shadowing her face and she took a moment before answering.

"...No. However, I might as well have; I was so blind to see what that human boy was doing to you , twisting and manipulating you to the point where I didn't even recognize you in the end-"

"Stop saying _you_!" I was filled with dread, the desperation heavy in my voice. "_Please _stop. You're wrong."

Asami's eyes snapped back open, once again coolly training her eyes on me. The look of pity she gave me was sickening.

"It would be best for you to just face it, my child. This _life_ you lead now, if you can even call it that, is nothing but a pretense, and though you may not realize it yet, your memories have already been seeping, scratching away at the surface and ready to fully come out. However, as you are now, you will never be able to fully be my daughter again and I cannot get what I want like this, so I have found another way for us to be together. Let me show you, my dear."

She twirled around, her silky robes rustling beautifully around her and that's when I saw it. I was wrong in thinking that Asami had been the one glowing before. There was an object, a _large_ object, that had been sitting behind her. It was an enormous sphere with thick vine-like chords that had been wrapped around the entire orb and stretched up to twist into a thick wire so that it was suspended in mid-air like a Christmas ornament- one that subtly glowed and seemed to churn with a plasma like substance.

But then I saw her.

My eyes widened in shock and disbelief. I couldn't believe my eyes. "That's..."

Asami gently rested her head against the orb, stroking one of the chords, "Aren't you beautiful sweetheart?"

Inside the sphere, a girl's motionless naked body lay curled up in the center. I could've thought she was sleeping if it hadn't been for her sightless, electric blue eyes. There was no mistaking it.

It was Kuri.

"How-how can that be possible?" I choked out, stunned.

"Of course, your corpse has long since rotted away, but I couldn't have you back without it being really you, and so for years I traveled through the Makai studying medicine and all I could so that I could recreate the perfect body. Once I had what I needed, and what remained of your body, all that was left was the energy to fuel the process. Thus, one of the main reasons why I had need of the ES.

"However, to ensure that this was a truly perfect body, I had it grow naturally from a child into how it's blossomed now. I was always careful with my ES, and thus her growing has always been slow, but when I finally sensed you here, I couldn't hold myself back and now she's finally ready. She's identical in every way. All I need for the final touch is to give her a soul.

"That's what brings us to now. Converting your soul is the final problem. Of course, there's the easy way: ripping out your soul like I did with your friends is the quickest option, but in doing such a brutal thing to an opposing or stubborn soul makes it an unclean cut and that won't do at all. No, your soul will remain unflawed and beautiful, but in order to keep it that way you must willingly forsake it to me."

Asami looked back at me, "I'm sure you understand how this is all supposed to work out now."

It took me a solid moment to fully let her words absorb; I couldn't stop shaking, but I'm not sure whether it was still from fear or now from anger, "This is what you need my consent for? What makes you think I'd _ever_ do that?"

For a second, Asami seemed to shake with a dark aura, but she visibly calmed herself a second after in an effort to keep control.

"I don't understand what your big fuss is, but I have a reasonable heart and so I'm prepared to make you a bargain. I can be fair: how about a soul for a soul. I return your friend's soul in exchange for your own. In fact, I'll give them both back, two for one."

"Like I'd fall for something like that." I practically spat at her, inching myself backwards towards Yukina's body.

Asami raised her eye brows skeptically, "My dear, don't you dare think I'd go back on my word. I don't lie, like a human would." She stepped up to the small icy prison she had created for Yukina and Botan's souls and with a snap of her fingers, the cage shattered into hundreds of shards.

"There, it's done."

From behind me, I jumped in surprise when I heard a small groan and I whirled around as color flooded through Yukina's body and into her cheeks and seemed to come alive again.

"Yukina!" Astonished, I scrambled by her side. Her breathing had returned to normal and her eyes had slid close as if she were really just sleeping now. _Her soul really had returned!_

Twisting back around, I glared at Asami angrily, "I didn't agree to anything yet!" That was a bad move on her play: if Yukina's soul had been returned and Asami had really been speaking the truth, then Botan's had been returned as well. Now all that was left was to escape with everyone.

"I'm quite aware of that, but honestly I could care less about their souls. Really, I still have a much larger bargaining chip up my sleeve that I assure you I am not so willing to give up as kindly; those two were merely an example of what I'm prepared to give you for your soul."

"You've already given me all that I came here to get. What more could you possibly have that could convince me otherwise?" I glowered confidently.

Asami tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Now what's that fire demon's name again... the one you were so tragically separated from moments ago?"

I stiffened. _Hiei..._

Asami continued, "Hiei, isn't it? Well sweetheart, Hiei, as you've come to know, is in fact _not _really human but a demon and for every demon lies a critical component in their nature: their demonic ki. Isn't it funny? When you look back at it, if he hadn't had to worry about protecting you from Minoru, he and probably the rest of your friends and uncle probably wouldn't even be in this kind of situation."

My insides twisted gruesomely, but she either didn't notice or just chose to ignore me, "Now, our ki is directly intertwined with our very life force: it grants us our longevity, power, strength, and much more. However, as you also must know,"

Here Asami paused and I couldn't pull my eyes away as she held out her palm once more. I watched as a completely different kind of orb slowly began to accumulate in her palm. Although it seemed weakened, it glowed red like a flame that crackled and snapped with power, but what really got me was just how familiar it felt and how immediately I sensed it resonating within me.

Asami's grinned slowly, "A demon can only live so long without it and I _am_ the one in possession of his. Though he may have felt as if he's been rebuilding his strength since then, over the past few months, his very life span has deteriorated to practically nothing as I continue to hold his very life in my hands, and he hasn't even realized. I'm surprised that fox demon companion of yours or Koenma hasn't noticed yet, but even if they had, it's not like they could have done anything."

"His life...has been deteriorating?" I felt numb and I could barely choke out my next words, "...How long does he have left?"

"I'm sure he could go on another few months or so, but then in no time at all, he'll be gone for good. It'll begin to hit him soon too: a sudden loss of appetite, fever possibly, and then his bodily functions will begin to shut down one by one and he will continue in a downward spiral until he has completely wasted away and nothing in your or anyone's power will be able to stop it. This is the truth."

I couldn't even think anymore. Powerful emotions were wracking my body. I raised a hand to my mouth to keep back all that wanted to flood through; I don't know how much longer I could hold back though. My vision became blurry once more. _This can't be...Hiei...Where are you?_

I was so...defeated.

Powerless.

I completely believed her. Hiei was going to die... unless...

There was no need for her to explain her bargain, but she did so anyways.

"Originally I hadn't intended to do anything with this and just let him rot, but things have surprisingly worked in my favor. Now, of course, I'm fully prepared to return Hiei's ki completely, no strings attached. All I ask is a single word from you in return."

I felt myself let go and completely sag, my head hanging down as the tears pooled in my eyes. My heart physically hurt.

"I..."

Suddenly, Asami let out a savage-like growl and, in an instant, blood-colored cords had shot out from underneath her skin like vines and shot out across the room to wrap around both my hands, snapping them forcefully together before I could even fully shout, and yanked me towards her. The tips were sharp and broke into the soft skin of my wrist and I cried out; I could feel streaks of my blood slip down my arms as she snarled at me. She dangled me directly in front of her and, though I struggled with everything in my body, it was hopeless and the cords only tightened until I couldn't feel my arms or hands anymore; I was utterly helpless to do anything but meet her gaze.

"I've been patient enough sweetheart. _Think about it._ Your only option left is to say yes to me. There is no happiness waiting for you anywhere but with me: if you refuse me, you will get to spend a few more precious months with him, but when he's gone and you're broken, I'll still have you. Or you can just spare yourself the pain, give in to me now, and also _save his life_. Everybody wins. So, have we got a deal?"

I couldn't stand staring into her eyes and painfully looked away with a broken cry of defeat. No way. This couldn't be happening. There had to be some way out.

But she wasn't letting me avoid her anymore. Somehow, she'd even managed to increase the pain.

"Well?" She goaded.

I made myself stare into her eyes, "First you would have to return Hiei's ki."

Asami grinned and shook her head, the red orb sparking in her hands, "Sorry dear, but I'm not _that_ kind, but I swear I will return it. Remember, _I don't lie_."

I glanced at the orb one last time, "I-"

There was a huge bang from behind me and I felt Asami's hold on me loosen almost immediately in her surprise and the next thing I know a blinding blue light is speeding our way. With a livid shriek, Asami pulled away and I felt my wrists go free, sending us opposite ways of the blast.

I hit the ground hard, sliding back until coming to a stop. I could feel the darkness trying to work its way around me but I struggled to keep consciousness.

"Ren!"

My wrists were once again grabbed, but instead of pain, a soothing stream of warmth and realization hit me like a truck as I felt the bond instantly re-register with the direct contact.

I didn't think and only acted as I stretched out, grasped , and desperately wrapped my arms around Hiei's neck. I clung on to him hard, deaf and momentarily oblivious to everything else.

_Hiei._

"You're ok...Thank Kami you're ok." The words practically came out like a sob, and I felt like my heart was breaking from the relief of just _seeing_ him alone. I hadn't realized just how worried I had been about him. Despite what Asami had said, the possibility that Hiei could be dead had still been there. To see him, to connect with him, to feel him... Everything had just become so surreal, it was unbecoming.

Hiei tugged my arms away and he gave me a thorough once over, though he gently held my bleeding wrists. "I'm fine. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

I shook my head.

"Hiei!" We looked over amidst all the rubble and the dust of the freshly blown-out wall to the side to see Kurama with Botan, Yusuke, and a conscious Kuwabara with Yukina in his arms hustling over to them.

"Kuwabara are you ok?" I asked worriedly. I had been seriously concerned that he'd still been majorly hurt by his impact even though I'd tried to protect him from most of the blow.

"I'm okay, thanks to your shield," he thanked me and then I noticed the fresh bruises forming on his face.

Yusuke flashed him an irritated scowl, "Yeah a good beating woke him up ."

"You..." By her now ruined throne but in front of the sphere container that seemed to have completely missed the blast, Asami stood looking absolutely enraged. She was seething and could barely get out her words. "How did you get here?"

Yusuke stuck out a fist in her direction, "Lucky shot!"

Her eyes were blazing, "_What?_" But she didn't even give him a chance to further explain before the same blood-colored cords that had held me before came slithering towards us without warning. It would've pierced Yusuke straight in the chest if Kurama had been a second slower, slicing the cord to bits with his thorny whip.

Hiei suddenly started and I turned to him in alarm but easily followed his gaze to Asami's hand where the orb continued to crackle with energy, now more than ever, as if it were responding to Hiei's presence.

He had known what it was immediately and took a step forward, "That's-!"

Asami growled and we watched as the orb dissipated in her hand and vanished as Hiei snarled loudly. She snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, the room was buzzing.

All around Asami was the largest pack of ES I'd ever seen and the only one separating us from our demise was Tatsuya who moved to be by her side. I couldn't read the expression on his face and for the strangest moment, when his eyes flicked over to mine, my heart jumped. A twinge went through me and I was filled with confusion. _What..._?

"Ha! Is this the best you got right now?" Yusuke shouted, flicking Asami off as he did so. Asami was not amused and the ES bristled louder.

"How the hell are we supposed to get out of this one?" Hiei said, keeping his eyes on Tatsuya.

"We run." Kurama quipped.

The ES began to approach and Tatsuya slowly stooped down into a crouch .

"I think that would be a really good idea right about now." Kuwabara squeaked and as the ES swelled forward, we took our cue.

Through the hole Yusuke made, we sprinted out and down the hall with an entire army hot in pursuit.

"Any bright ideas in how to actually get out?" Yusuke shouted over the loud buzzing.

"If something occurs, I'll be sure to share!" Kurama grunted.

Now if there's anything I could say I've learned from the several experiences I've had in running for my life, it would be to not look back. So I didn't. I just kept my eyes straight ahead and focused on pushing myself forward.

But of course it didn't matter. My legs suddenly buckled as I felt something grab onto them and I went crashing down hard, biting on my tongue in the process. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

I looked back at my legs: from the stone ground, Asami's cords had burst out and had trapped me in a vice-like grip.

"Damn it!" Hiei instantly noticed how I'd gone down and they all stopped to help me though the ES were only moments away.

Kurama lashed his whip in a smooth arc and the cords snapped but immediately following were thicker ones that burst up and took hold of my arms and legs once more.

"What the hell is this stuff?" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"They keep regenerating to quickly," Kurama struggled to slice them away, but a sense of defeat was already settling in the pit of my stomach.

"It's okay guys, just go! You'll all be killed if you don't leave right now. Asami won't hurt me." A vile taste filled my mouth but it needed to be done. We'd rescued Botan and Yukina and all that mattered now was that they all escaped safely, whether I was collateral damage in the process or not.

"Just shut up; you're a moron. I can't leave without you." Hiei barked instantly. I blinked. Actually that was true; though the bond had stretched itself so that we could be so far apart now, at one point something would prevent either of us from going farther. We were still bound together and we were still in a two for one deal. Whether we were screwed or would see another day, it would happen together. But at the same time... I was beginning to have the feeling that that wasn't exactly what Hiei had meant.

The ES were nearly upon us and left with practically no choice, the boys all stood their ground in front of me.

"This is going to be one hell of a fight," Yusuke popped his knuckles, "Don't worry guys, I've got this since the rest of you are in charge of the girls."

I struggled to turn my head and see what was happening, but the harder I struggled the tighter the constraints seemed to become. Hiei was busy trying to slice them away quick enough, but it seemed futile.

I don't know if I'd only imagined what followed, but when I looked up, for an instant, I'd imagined Tatsuya standing right in front of me, still supporting an unreadable expression . I imagined him sweeping a single hand in a quick motion and then he was gone but just as he vanished , I became lighter and the cords all snapped away and I scrambled to my feet. Hiei, also taken aback, stared at the empty spot where Tatsuya had been only a second ago. _Did Hiei see him too?_

The next thing I know, instead of a stretch of hallway, I was suddenly staring straight into a black void that was sucking us in like a black hole. The vacuum was so powerful I was literally being pulled in: there was nothing to hold on to and I frantically tried to reach out for Hiei.

But before we all were sucked in an instant later and swallowed by the blackness, Asami suddenly appeared in front of us but she made no move to do anything, her cold eyes sharp but passive. Her voice boomed menacingly.

"_You have three days."_

There was a moment of weightlessness and then the sound of tumbling, groaning bodies as all of us hit and sprawled across the ground.

"Um...what just happened?" Yusuke's voice carried over the sudden quiet. Blinking out dirt from my eyes, I shakily raised myself up, looking around in confusion. Yukina was safely tucked in Kuwabara's arms, who'd landed on his back, Botan with Kurama who was already propped up on a knee, and beside me Hiei also struggled to regain his bearings.

A slight breeze made the open air chilly and I shivered. The trees around us swayed peacefully around.

Somehow... we'd made it back.

"Yusuke!" A shrill cry came from a little distance away and Yusuke turned around only to be thrown backwards as Keiko slammed into him with a broken sob. Behind her, Koenma came running up to meet them.

"Keiko!" Yusuke exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

She was quick to pull back and gaze at him with big wet eyes, but her voice quivered with anger, "What do you mean? You've been gone for an entire week! Koenma said he couldn't sense any of you either."

"We've been gone a week?" I was shocked. That was crazy! We couldn't have been in there for more than a couple of hours.

"I suppose that could make sense." Kurama said, "If we really were in a different time-space, it would only be fitting for time itself to flow differently there as well."

"It's ok Keiko, you know I've been gone longer. You almost should be used to it by now." Yusuke grinned at her and received a punch to the face in exchange.

"That's for making me worry over a moron like you."

Ignoring the bizarrely functional couple, Koenma sidestepped them and came rushing up to us.

"Are you all alright?"

"Yes, for the most part, if only scraped and a little banged up." Kurama nodded towards the rest of us and the unconscious girls who only had a little dirt on their faces from when we landed but continued to sleep.

Koenma sighed in relief, "Thank goodness you were able to save them. How were you able to escape?"

I shook my head, "I really have no idea. One moment we were running for our lives and the next, we were sucked into another black hole that just brought us back here." I hesitated, thinking, "Actually I think I might have seen... Hiei, did you- _Hiei!_"

The color from Hiei's face had gradually drained away and he had fallen down without a word, his sparking red eyes losing light and slipping closed.

"Ren, there! On the back of his neck!" Koenma shouted at me and pointed. I instantly recognized the shining purple color of a single ES which I swatted away hard. As Kuwabara whipped out his sword to finish of the insect once and for all, I scrambled close to Hiei, shaking his shoulders and taking hold of his face, trying to search for any sign that meant he was still conscious. Instead, he was barely breathing and his end of the bond that had sparked again when we'd been reunited had gone deeply quiet.

"Hiei wake up! Please, open your eyes! Hiei!"

_ Then in no time at all, he'll be gone for good._

He didn't open his eyes.

* * *

><p>BAM. Whose busy reeling?! Whose totally like <em>whattt<em>!? Who totally wants to throw something at my head?!

Soooo... I can only hope that no one is really mad or upset with me -_-' I swear that I did not mean to wait this long, but I have literally have had no time because of this shift to college and engineering classes... I'm done with making promises because I feel just horrible for breaking them all the time, so ya'll are just going to have keep faith that I will keep coming back, no matter how long it takes, to make it around the field and to home base :D That I CAN AND WILL promise!

I love you all, my lovely reviewers, followers, and readers, so very very much :) If I don't see you at Thanksgiving then Happy Thanksgiving! Seeing as I have a month off for Christmas though, I do believe that I will be seeing you then though O_O NO PROMISES *runs away flailing*

Love, InuChimera7410

**BTDUBS: 7 reviews away from another dedicated one-shot ;D


	23. A Look Into the Heart

**_Yikes..._**Well, this took wayyyy longer than expected.

I blame it on Doctor Who and SHERLOCK FEEELLSSSS ERMERGERD.

Sorry about the wait XD This chapter hasn't been beta'd yet, so if there are any dumb mistakes, please go easy on me XD

As always, thank you for your continued support and I love you all~~ c:

I'm honoring this chapter to the new semester! yaaay

(kill me)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 23- A Look Into the Heart<p>

I blinked, slowly waking up. Groggy, I rubbed my eyes in a moment of confusion, not realizing I'd even gone to sleep. Yet just as I'd left him, Hiei was still pale and unconscious. He hadn't opened his eyes since we'd arrived at Kuwabara's house and placed him on Kuwabara's bed. I had meant to watch over him, but I guess I had been more tired than I'd thought. Someone had even draped a blanket over my shoulders in my sleep.

I hovered over Hiei to get a better look at him, scanning for any change at all. His breathing was slow and ragged like it was difficult for him to breathe. Frowning, I moved to readjust his blankets in an effort to make him more comfortable but as I did so my fingertips brushed along his arms and I was alarmed at how warm they felt.

My eyes widened and I rested my hand on his forehead.

_He has a fever..._

Feeling absolutely helpless, I sank back into my chair and gripped Hiei's hand; I grimaced at how clammy it felt in my grasp.

In different circumstances I could've found this funny: though a handful of months had already passed, now looking back, it didn't seem so long ago that we had been in almost the exact same predicament. I really was a completely different person back then- a me where I thought I was living a normal life, ignorant and even alone. If I had been told that this would happen to me, of course I would _never_ have believed it. Except now... though it was the same, everything was different. Hiei dying before was one thing: I couldn't just let him, a stranger though he was, just _die _and it was the right thing to do, but Hiei dying now... the _thought_ alone made me feel just downright sick and so very desperate to see him just open his _eyes_. Right now, in this very moment, I needed for Hiei to just open his eyes and to _wake up._ Otherwise-

I was jolted out of my thoughts when a soft knock penetrated the silence and the door swung open to reveal Botan holding a small tray with two mugs that still had steam curling up the sides.

"Botan!" I exclaimed, letting Hiei's hand go and getting up uncertainly. "How long have you been awake? How are you feeling?"

She smiled, "I've been awake for about an hour, but Yukina's still asleep. I'm a little tired but perfectly fine otherwise thanks to all of you of course. Kurama told me about Hiei. I came to see you both earlier, but we found you fast asleep; you must've been exhausted." She set the tray down on the bedside table. "I brought you both hot tea for when you woke up, because I'd assumed Hiei would be awake by now, but..." Botan trailed off meekly.

I thanked her kindly and grabbed the tea, but I couldn't bring it to my lips. I had no appetite or desire for anything and just stared into the liquid pool.

"How is he?" Botan asked solemnly and I turned back around to Hiei.

"No better than before." I answered with a heavy sigh. Botan sipped her tea quietly.

"He'll be ok Ren. He always is." Botan gently promised with earnest. My tea rippled as my hands began to quiver and I was forced to set the cup down. I knew she was saying that as a means to comfort, but still. I clenched my hands.

"How can you know that for sure?" I whispered softly.

The look on her face was just painful, and she had no real answer because she _didn't_ know.

There was another series of knocks and the door swung open to reveal a pale, but conscious Yukina trailed by an anxious Kuwabara who was eyeing her every move and circling around her like a helicopter. Kurama followed. More than obviously worried, Yukina would have fallen over in her haste to reach Hiei's side if Kuwabara hadn't steadied her.

"Yukina, you need to be taking it easy. Are you still feeling dizzy?" Kuwabara demanded gently, but she kindly brushed him off.

"I'm fine Kazuma, really."

He didn't look nearly convinced but he backed off to give her space.

"Yukina, did you just wake up?" Botan exclaimed worriedly as Yukina came forward again.

"Yes, a couple minutes ago. How's Hiei?" I moved back by the boys to let Yukina take my place, though my heart panged softly. She gripped Hiei's hand and frowned.

"He has no physical wounds, but his energy... it's flow feels erratic and wrong..." She murmured, moving her hands to cup his face.

" How bad is he?" I asked, not wanting but needing to know.

She didn't answer for a moment, concentrating, "Give me a moment..."

Kuwabara held out his arms in a worried gesture, "Are you sure you're up to this Yukina? You shouldn't be pushing yourself right now."

"Yes Kazuma, I'm alright. I'd like to do whatever I can to help him." Yukina insisted and closed her eyes when her hands began to glow and made direct contact with his skin. Botan sat to the side, keeping an eye on Yukina to make sure she didn't over exert herself.

A thick wad lodged in my throat and I suddenly couldn't stand the sight and had to turn my back against them. I struggled to regain my voice, looking at Kurama and Kuwabara.

"Is everyone else ok?" I asked.

"Yusuke, Keiko, and Koenma are in the living room. We were there but a moment ago as well until Yukina finally woke up and insisted to see Hiei." Kurama paused, glancing over me. " How about you Ren? Are you alright?"

"Me?" I echoed uncertainly.

Kurama frowned, "Yes. You've barely said a word since we returned ."

I frowned. I hadn't intended to ignore everyone but as soon as we'd gotten to Kuwabara's house, I'd refused to leave Hiei's side and hadn't moved away since . My head was too full and my heart was too sick.

I could just tell him I was fine and move on, but I wasn't fine. Not in the least.

I wrapped my arms around myself, squeezing my arms, and gazing down. Everything was going to hell and I couldn't do anything except...except...

Kurama and Kuwabara gaped in surprise as the tears began to slide down my face.

"No, I'm not ok." I whispered, "Kurama... Hiei's _dying._"

Kuwabara seemed shocked as I explained about Hiei's ki and his deteriorating life force, but Kurama's expression only grew darker and he clenched his fists.

Looking away, he spoke solemnly, "I thought I had sensed a growing weakness inside him, but I had dearly hoped otherwise. This only confirms my fears."

"What if this is it?" I cried weakly, "What... what if he doesn't wake up?"

"Please calm down Ren." Kurama reassured me, though his expression was still grim. "It's true that Hiei is incredibly weak right now, but I can feel his spirit fighting and Yukina is doing all she can; he should be okay once he's awake. The ES weren't able to take the rest of his ki." The way Kurama trailed off alarmed me, but he continued, "As it is, I suspect Hiei will regain consciousness soon, and when he does wake up, the best we can do is to make him rest."

Kuwabara crossed his arms, very troubled, and gazed over at Yukina still working her power over Hiei, "Right before we got sucked into that black hole back there... what do you think Asami meant by three days?"

I had hoped I'd just imagined that bit, but of course my hope had been wasted. I impatiently waited for Kurama's opinion.

"We've seemed to disorient her somewhat and I assume that she's given us a warning. Something must be coming and we only have three days until it does.. However, in the meantime, we should take advantage of the rest."

I didn't say so out loud but I could only think of one reason why she would possibly give us this time.

Three days to make my decision. When time was up, I would have to surrender my soul to her. If I didn't, than she wouldn't return Hiei's ki.

And Hiei would die.

And based on how he had only had even more energy drained away several hours ago, his already shortened life span could only have been reduced to even less. There was no telling how long he would last now, but it certainly wouldn't be much longer.

Kuwabara cleared his throat drawing me out of my thoughts and I turned to him in confusion. He fidgeted uncomfortably as he tried to find the words, then he took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eye and I was startled to realize just how _guilty_ he looked.

"Ren, I feel like I need to apologize about before. After that night with Minoru and Asami's other goons when we started distrusting you, I know I was definitely the worst to you, but Hiei was right. I was wrong to have ever thought you could betray us: I'm sorry for doubting you cared. Even back there when we were separated from Hiei, I could have been hurt a lot worse if it hadn't been for you protecting me. I'm really sorry! Please forgive me."

Kuwabara's face had drooped so much that it was impossible to not accept his apology. I knew full well that he had only been worried about Yukina. It still stung as he mentioned it, but I was eager to accept so we could move on and put it all behind us. " It's okay, Kuwabara. I get it." Right as I finished speaking, a familiar sensation began to stir in the corners of my mind and my eyes widened. Without another word, I twisted around, sensing what was happening before it actually did.

Completely rooted to the spot, I waited with bated breath. Botan's loud gasp filled the silence as Yukina withdrew her hands with a sigh of relief, and I could only quietly stare as Hiei slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were misty as he blinked and he began to rustle slightly, struggling to regain his bearings.

"What...Yukina?" He groaned and made the effort to pull himself up, but Yukina was quick to rest her hands against him.

"Hiei, you need to rest. I managed to help your fever, but you should take things slow right now." She urged gently, but Hiei was already coming back to his senses and thus getting riled up.

"What happened?" He murmured, holding his head for a moment before snapping it up as it came back to him., I could feel the pieces falling back into place as he escaped his foggy daze. His eyes suddenly clear and sharp, he looked quickly from face to face, searching. They froze on mine.

Why'd it become so hard to breathe normally all of the sudden? I tore my eyes away, heart thudding. Eyes wide, I couldn't for the sake of it all make myself look at him again.

My palms were sweaty and clammy and I could feel a shudder coming on. How did you breathe normally again?

Feeling overwhelmed, scared and unable to comprehend what was happening, I did what I did best. I panicked.

Startling every single person in the room, I shot to the bedside table and snatched the tray Botan had brought in with the now cold tea.

"Oh no, the tea's cold! Don't worry, I'll go get something else right away!" I wheezed and darted out of the room, missing the surprised expressions that followed me. I just had to get out of there, quickly.

I was so focused on getting away, I completely missed Keiko and Yusuke coming from the opposite direction and their looks of utter bafflement. I didn't even hear Keiko's call of concern.

I did not stop until I had reached the kitchen sink and only then did I allow myself to even start to slow down, setting the tray down with a soft _clink_.

_What... was that?_ I had no idea what had just overcome me; it's like I had just had a momentary nervous breakdown. Moments ago I had wanted nothing more than to see Hiei awake again... even now, I couldn't deny that I desperately wanted to go back and see him, but for some reason, my body just refused to take me back. My knees quivered. When he had looked at me just now... for some reason, I couldn't handle it. So I just ran away like a coward.

"Ren?"

I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat. I'd been so consumed in my own thoughts I hadn't realized that Keiko had come up behind me.

"Keiko..."

Keiko smiled gently at me, "You know... I was just about to go on a little walk. Come with me?"

~.~.~.~.~

The shock of Ren's emotions had momentarily stunned Hiei into paralysis. The sudden and powerful flow of relief, guilt, and despair had been temporarily overpowering and before he could even react or say anything she had darted out of the room.

Alarmed, he tried getting up again but Yukina once more rested her hands against him, preventing him from moving any further.

"What-"

"Please Hiei. Your body is still weak, I could only do so much." Yukina insisted, but Hiei grimaced regardless; he was still so disoriented and confused and things seemed to be happening too fast.

"What happened?"

"An ES latched itself onto you and took more of your energy. You passed out." Kurama explained.

Hiei flushed slightly, "How long was I out?"

"Only a couple of hours." Kurama answered, but just then Keiko and Yusuke arrived at the door, confusion clear on their faces but which quickly morphed into ones of relief upon seeing Hiei.

"Hey, it's about time you've woken up! We were seriously starting to get worried there buddy." Yusuke chuckled coming up to Hiei's bed.

Hiei's head was spinning and beginning to pound. He frowned as they began to chatter away and struggled to tune them all out. What were they all thinking? None of this mattered at the moment! Ren just-

"Hiei!"

In another attempt to get out of the bed, Hiei's world spun around, his knees giving out, and he would've collapsed onto the floor if Yusuke hadn't swept forward to catch him before he did.

"Hold your horses, Hiei. You're way too weak right now to be going anywhere." Yusuke said in concern, helping him back.

"Ren-" Hiei was internally chastising himself for how he was so out of it that he couldn't even think coherently.

Keiko exchanged a brief nod with Botan before gently touching Yusuke's arm.

"I'm going to take Ren to my house, ok? I'll talk to her."

"Huh? Wha-Wait, Keiko!" Yusuke called out to her, but she'd already left the room. Even as Hiei made to protest, Botan frowned, "You should focus on recovering your strength Hiei. Besides, it might be best to just give Ren a moment right now, the poor dear. She must be feeling overwhelmed."

Hiei was feeling more aggravated each moment, only further frustrated when the room didn't cease to completely stop spinning. Why couldn't they just understand that that was exactly why he needed to see her?

"You don't understand." Hiei managed to grit out and forcefully pushed against Yusuke, attempting to rise again, "Something could happen-"

Suddenly, whatever strength he'd had abandoned him and he sank against Yusuke, feeling darkness pulling him down. He tried to struggle against it but his traitorous body wouldn't respond and his eyes began to slip down against his will.

"Damn it." He exhaled as his body let go.

_Ren..._

"Hiei! "Yusuke shook the dead-weight body in his grip, but Hiei was already snoring lightly and oblivious to the world. He breathed easier though and a bit of color had returned to his complexion. Kurama stepped forward, revealing the familiar small flower he'd been shielding behind his back.

Yukina glanced at him questioningly, "Why'd you put Hiei back to sleep?"

" Stress is the last thing Hiei needs to be putting his body through right now; he should be focusing on regaining his energy, not tiring himself out. Though he most likely won't be as calm as he is now when he wakes up, he should remain unconscious for a while. Until then though, we'll just keep watch over him. I'm worried about the girls though; no one should be left alone right now, even if they are together." Kurama frowned.

Yusuke sighed, setting Hiei back down, "I'll keep track of them to make sure everything's okay. The rest of you can stay to hold back three-eyes here just in case he tries to do anything else stupid."

"You're one to talk," Botan smirked while Yusuke just made an ugly face at her.

Once Yusuke was gone, Yukina insisted on treating Hiei just a little more which made Kuwabara frown in concern for her own health, but she seemed perfectly fine if just still tired. Botan followed Kurama out of the room, glancing back at Hiei's pale face with worry.

"Hiei... he's going to be okay, right?" Botan quietly asked. Kurama offered her a comforting smile, .

"This _is_ Hiei we're talking about."

Botan shook her head with a small grin, the slight hesitation in her voice the only hint at uncertainty, "You're right obviously. Hiei's the most stubborn person we know; he's been through much worse anyways."

However, when Botan's back was turned the grin slipped from Kurama's face. He truly believed that Hiei could hang on for a little while, but stubbornness could only take him so far. The only ones that knew of Hiei's declining condition at the moment was still only himself, Ren, and Kuwabara; for now, he wouldn't mention it, but time was not their ally and he would have to explain the situation soon if nothing changed. Though he tried not to think the worst, the basic fact was at the rate of Hiei's weakening state, he wouldn't last another couple of weeks.

~.~.~.~.~

"It's a beautiful day, don't you think?" Keiko chatted.

I replied with a simple, following her, "Yeah."

_It is a beautiful day, _I thought absently, but I couldn't enjoy it properly; I was too busy zoning out to notice the cloudless sky or the vibrant colors of the flowers that were blossoming under the summer sun. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was even thinking about school; if it had still been open, we would've been officially off on vacation by now.

" Dad, I'm back." Keiko called out, and I followed her inside her family's ramen shop. Mr. Yukimura finished up serving a bowl to a customer before glancing up, his face lighting up in a smile.

"Hey Keiko. And Ren! We were wondering where you'd run off to for the past week; everything good? You are still staying with us right?"

Keiko looped one of her arms through mine, smiling, "Of course she is. We aren't taking 'no' for an answer anyways." She winked at me before a word could leave my mouth. It became increasingly hard to swallow and I just didn't have the heart to tell her not to worry about it, so I just nodded wordlessly and forced a smile.

Mr. Yukimura grinned, "Oh hey girls, don't forget that we'll be hosting our own stand at the local festival tomorrow evening so make sure to stop by. Make sure to bring Yusuke too, Keiko. It's always good to see him."

Keiko chuckled, the barest of flushes tinting her face. I glanced at her curiously.

"Festival?" I echoed. Keiko nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you don't know, but there's going to be a festival right by the river tomorrow evening. I meant to tell everyone earlier, but I got distracted. I think it'll be a well-deserved breather, don't you?

" I don't know Keiko..." I stammered, the nerves rolling around in my stomach. I was still so stressed and there was so much going on that I didn't think it would be such a good idea to just-

"This is exactly what I mean Ren!" I jumped when Keiko pointed a finger at me, "You need to take your mind off of things; it'll be fun with everyone. I was rummaging through my things and I found an extra yukata that I'm sure will fit you too! I'm not taking any excuses. No, say no more!"

I resigned with a sigh. There was obviously nothing I could really say to stop her once she was going; it looked like the final verdict would have to be made with the others later. Keiko laughed victoriously, but I couldn't just drop all of my worries. We'd still have a day left, but I'm not sure how much fun I could have knowing what was ahead. I'd never been one to just be able to forget because it was convenient. Hiei would probably still be weak as well. And how long did he have now? It couldn't have been long at all, even less time than Asami had told me because that was before he'd been attacked again.

"Ren!"

Suddenly I noticed that Keiko was calling me and I started, only to find her quietly observing me with concerned eyes. I fidgeted nervously realizing I had just zoned off again; I had no idea how long she had been calling me.

Then a small smile twitched on her face and she waved at her dad.

"We'll see you later Dad. Come on Ren." She tugged on my arm and though I was caught off guard, I obediently followed after her without question. We left the shop and turned down two streets before Keiko stopped in front of a playground, mischievous little kids squealing around as they went down slides or ran from their parents. Keiko pointed at the swing set.

"There!" Keiko walked over to the swings and sat down, gesturing for me to join her on the neighboring empty one. Blinking, I sat down and began to rock slightly back and forth, still confused as to why she had brought us here.

She rested a hand on my arm then and began softly, "Ren, if there's something that you'd like to talk about or get off your chest, I just wanted to let you know I'm here to listen. About anything."

I was surprised by her kind gesture, but even if I wanted to confide my feelings, I'm not even sure where I'd begin so I shook my head. I still didn't even _know_ what I was feeling.

The frown on her face begged to differ though and she clearly wasn't going to take silence for an answer.

"Please Ren," She said, "Haven't you now known me long enough to trust me? I'd just like to help."

Her hurt expression hurt me in turn though so I took a deep breath and tried to just talk like she said.

"Well..." I said uncertainly, trying to piece my thoughts together, "It's just everything really. And I don't know what happened to me back at the house." I admitted. "One moment I wanted nothing more than to see Hiei awake but when he finally woke up, I think I must've had some kind of anxiety attack. Don't tell anyone." I said quickly, embarrassed. "And with Hiei...I ...I'm just always worried and confused now and ugh." I faltered, running out of words.

Keiko hummed for a moment, thinking, "Don't worry, I won't say a word, but it sounds to me like you're avoiding your problems; maybe all you need is to be honest with yourself. Once you are, maybe you won't feel so anxious."

I frowned, "But honest about what?"

Keiko hummed thoughtfully and gazed off in the distance, a subtle smile on her face. Her eyes glistened softly as if what she was seeing wasn't right in front of her. I waited patiently for her to say something.

When she finally did, she giggled.

"Ren, do you ever just stop sometimes and take a moment to look back at everything: the good, the bad... Normally I'd say that it was all in the past and that it didn't matter, but I can argue that it also does in that because of everything that happened in the past is the reason for what's happening now. It's completely bizarre."

Caught off guard by the tangent in the conversation, I hesitated before agreeing, "It really is crazy."

She swung a little, kicking at the ground, "Did you know this is where I first met Yusuke?"

That really surprised me. I paused mid swing to look at her, very curious now, "Really?"

She nodded, "Yup. Yusuke and I have known each other since we were both little kids and we grew up together. Yusuke hasn't really changed much from then either. He's still obnoxious, short-tempered, way to brash, rude, cocky, and immature! Ugh! "

I had to press my lips together to prevent a smile as I could see Keiko charging herself up, one of her hands coming up in a shaking fist.

"That idiot had the worst habits and always went looking for a fight for no reason! I'd also always slap him when he tried to grope me or flip my skirt just to be annoying." She huffed for a second before her grimace snapped into a tiny snort, "Well, some things don't change..." She paused, allowing herself to calm down, "But even though he's an idiot, we were always close and I never thought anything of it. Because we were always together, there was no reason to think that one day we wouldn't because that was just the way things were."

I nodded, wanting her to continue, but her smile slipped, "But then Yusuke got hit by that car and he was gone just like that. For a while there, I was a wreck."

It hurt to see the pained expression cross Keiko's face, but she went on, "It was crazy how he was just _gone_; he wouldn't be coming back. That morning we had gotten into another stupid fight like always and I realized that the last moment I'd spent with him was wasted with me yelling at him about the dumb class attendance. Looking back now, though then I still hadn't realized it I was definitely already in love with Yusuke."

I blushed, still confused but eager for her to go on.

"Of course, he came back and it didn't just stop there , but I can't begin to describe what it feels like to have him go running off all the time, leaving me to wonder whether he'll come back again or not and it's always hard, but at the same time... I know it'll be okay. I feel like I've learned a thing or two in all of this. I can't waste my time always worrying about what will happen in the future because I end up missing the time I do have with him, which is right now. If there's one thing I can be sure of, it's what I have with him in the present. I know I'll always be with him, by his side and it's just... right. How it should be."

A warm smile lit Keiko's face and I felt my heart squeeze.

"That's... beautiful. You guys really are meant to be together." I meant it too. They were made for each other in every way and I couldn't believe I might've ever thought otherwise.

Then Keiko turned to me with the same smile, but now there was a twinkle in her eye and she hummed, "Mhm... so don't worry, because it'll all work out somehow. I promise."

The sensitive warmth that had been pooling in my heart at her touching story abruptly vanished and I blinked in confusion. What would work out?

"What?" I said dumbly. I couldn't help but get the sense that I was missing a bigger picture here.

Keiko arched a brow, the twinkle gleaming brighter, "You and Hiei, of course."

I stared. It took a moment to completely register and even when her words made sense, I was still confused.

"I'm sorry, I don't- What would Hiei and I work out?" I asked. It was like my mind was an engine that had just sputtered out and stalled; I couldn't comprehend what she was possibly saying-

"You and Hiei being together. You know, in a relationship. Like Yusuke and me?" Keiko explained matter-of-factly. I blinked at her once more.

Then the engine kick started to life so fast that when I darted up, I almost flipped backwards over the swing. My face was burning and I found that I couldn't form a single, coherent thought and I sputtered, trying to say something, _anything_, but obviously failing miserably.

Keiko didn't seem affected from my sudden wild behavior and went on casually, "What's that face for? You don't have to be embarrassed about falling in love, Ren. I can completely relate; it always happens in the most unexpected ways with the most unexpected people."

Forget burning, my face was on fire.

"_What?_ Keiko what- NO- that's not, I'm not- He's not- no no no, I can't be and Hiei most definitely isn't-" I continued to spout word vomit, not even realizing myself what I was saying, Keiko's words instead echoing in my head. _Together. In... In-_

Keiko smirked, "Don't even try to deny it. I see it in you when you're talking to him or just being him with him and if you can't even accept that, then it's that look in your eyes when you just _look_. It's so obvious Ren and so clear as day... but apparently I'm starting to get the feeling that the only one blind to it just might be you." She paused, eyeing me uncertainly.

"You do love him don't you?"

My mind gears whirling at intense speeds, I opened my mouth and was instantly prepared to deny it, chuckle and maybe call her out on the joke, but just as it was on the tip of my tongue, my throat closed up and I couldn't speak as if the word itself refused to come out...couldn't come out.

There was no way. I couldn't, really... My hand came up to cover my mouth and my knees began to wobble.

Could I really... be in _love_ with Hiei?

"I..." I started quietly, "Even if I ... there's just no way that Hiei could possibly..." I forced myself to slowly meet Keiko's gaze, and was met by her kind, tender smile.

"Ren," she whispered comfortably, finally standing up and wrapping me in a hug, "You don't have to be afraid. Next time you're with him, just- just look at his eyes. Trust me."

I leaned into the hug and began to return it, but just before I was completely able to my eyes flickered up and I froze, my mouth dropping open in a voiceless gasp.

"Ren?" Keiko pulled away in confusion then turned around, following my wide-eyed gaze.

His grin was as cocky as ever, but there was just something about the way he was looking at me that was almost...sad.

"Ryuu?" I exclaimed in shock, barely aware of the series of confused expressions Keiko was now shooting at me.

Even though it was warm out, Ryuu was wearing a jacket, hands stuffed in his pockets, and was casually sauntering up to Keiko and I. Reaching us, he tipped a casual two-finger salute.

"Hey." His grin wavered slightly, but so quickly that it could've been my imagination, though frankly I was still reeling from the fact that he was even there to notice.

"Oh my... Ryuu!" I breathed.

Ryuu let out a brief chuckle, jokingly peering over both sides of his shoulders, "Yup, it's still just me."

Realizing how stupid I sounded, I shook my head and gasped, "It's been so long- months! I'm so glad you're ok!"

Before I could stop myself, I pulled Ryuu into my arms. Completely caught off guard, Ryuu tensed and I instantly let him go, now increasingly aware of Keiko's staring and how uncomfortable I had just made the situation.

I flushed, quickly trying to cover up what I had just done, stammering, "S-sorry! I just- I was worried about you. You didn't show up the day when the school... had the accident." I wanted to smack myself in the face, but Ryuu only coughed awkwardly, a slight tint coloring his face as well, the cocky grin of his nowhere to be seen.

"Uh right, the school..." He mumbled hazily, then coughed again, "It was...I got the flu."

"...The flu." I parroted. A degree more pale than before, Ryuu nodded.

"Right...anyways, how are you? Don't tell me you live around here." I said, wondering if maybe all this time he'd been so close and I just had no idea.

"Erm, no not really. Not exactly, at least. I was just taking a walk. It's a coincidence really, this." He gestured between them, suddenly a bit more fidgety, but soon enough another cocky grin, though lacking its typical spunk, lit his face.

"Like you said, it's been months. I'd like to catch up." He said.

"Oh. Well, I guess that would be good. I mean, nice. That'd be nice." I cursed myself for being so awkward and weird; it wouldn't be the first time though.

Keiko cleared her throat. Had I seriously just forgotten that I was with Keiko right now?

"Oh! Sorry, Keiko this is Ryuu. He's... a friend from school." I almost struggled with that last bit when I probably shouldn't have. I mean, that's all he was anyways.

"It's nice to meet you Ryuu, but I get the feeling that you'd like to be alone, so I'll just go ahead and excuse myself. Just meet me at home when you're done, okay?" Keiko said. I almost straight out stopped her- I didn't want to be alone with Ryuu, but I couldn't protest without making an even more awkward scene, so I just squeaked an 'ok' back. I could feel her inquisitive eyes train on me once more before she walked off.

I turned to face Ryuu who shrugged and gestured to the swings with a questioning brow. Hiding a sigh, I went ahead and sat down on the swing once again.

~.~.~.~.~

Yusuke had just come from Keiko's house and paused a bit away from the conversing trio. Keiko stood quietly to the side while Ren was chatting with a guy he didn't recognize. He waved, catching Keiko's eye. She blinked and then gestured for him to wait, and cleared her throat to excuse herself. Yusuke frowned just as Keiko reached his side.

"Who the heck is that?" He cocked his head and shot her a questioning glance. Keiko was equally as mystified though.

"I honestly have no idea. We were just talking when he came up to us. Apparently he's a friend from Ren's school. I feel kind of bad for abandoning her like that, but I figured I was being the unnecessary third wheel. Anyways, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay at Kuwabara's until Hiei woke up."

Yusuke shrugged, "I was, but we figure it'd be better that someone keeps an eye out just in case."

"Just in case of what?"

"Anything really, but everything looks ok." He shrugged again and Keiko rolled her eyes.

"How dependable." She paused, glancing back at the now chatting pair, "Do you think it's alright to just leave her alone though?"

"It shouldn't be a problem as long as we stick around and keep an ear out." Yusuke grinned.

Keiko raised a brow, " 'We,' huh?"

"Yeah. Other than that, I'm pretty much free right now and last I checked, you had nothing important on your calendar either so you obviously have nothing better to do."

"Says who?" She exclaimed.

"Says me. Besides we haven't had any time to just do something together in the past couple of days. So how about it? Free for a bite?" Yusuke pointed out a small food truck in the distance and Keiko scoffed though her eyes were bright with joy.

"Weeks." She corrected, " And are you really asking me out on a date _now_?" She asked with a smirk, but he slung his arm around her shoulders to push her forward with a laugh, looking down at her with a smile.

"There's no time like the present! Now come on, I think they sell corn dogs."

"Wow, you're _so _romantic." She rolled her eyes, but smiled warmly in turn and laughed. No time like the present indeed.

~.~.~.~.~

"You know, I'm surprised you're not angry to see me."

I was confused, "Angry? Why should I be?"

Ryuu shrugged, but smirked slightly, "Well the last I saw you, you weren't exactly happy with me."

I frowned, thinking. When it did come back, I couldn't stifle the sharp gasp that flew from my mouth, my eyes wide, "I can't believe I forgot _that_."

I had completely forgotten that terrible night with that stupid fight that lost me my job. Back then, Ryuu would have been right, because I would never have let something like that go and would have gladly continued to be angry, but now it was almost strange how I could just _not_ be. In retrospect, that 'terrible' night, had not been so terrible at all, and now it seemed especially trivial. To think that it had only been a few months since then where I still worried about my job and I had to pay bills and go through school life while now I...

"It doesn't matter anymore." I said gruffly and I didn't miss the surprise in Ryuu's eyes. "A lot has happened since then and," I paused, letting out a dry chuckle, "I don't know, maybe it was for the better anyways. So, you don't have to worry about it if you were. It's all water under the bridge."

Ryuu was quiet for a few moments, then blinked, "Well... I wasn't expecting that."

I smirked, "I'm just full of surprises. You're lucky that Hiei isn't here though. I'm not sure that he'd be so willing to forgive and forget." At the thought of Hiei though, I started fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Speaking of," he started slowly, "Where is the menace?"

"He's not a menace." I snapped before I could stop myself and flushed, turning away from his surprised look. "He's fine; I'll let him know that you asked." I added quickly, though my stomach turned sickly with worry at the thought of Hiei pale and cold face back at Kuwabara's house.

However, Ryuu barked a laugh and I stared at him, first annoyed and slightly miffed, but then startled by the scorn and brief shadow that had descended over his face.

"What?" I asked roughly. Ryuu paused, the scorn vanishing though the shadow remained as he slowly shook his head.

"It might be better if you didn't. He never liked me anyways." Ryuu smirked, but it hardly reached his eyes. He'd picked up a small handful of woods chips and was absently toying with them in his fingers.

In a much quieter voice, he added, "And I get the feeling that he never will."

I looked at him, confused. Since the moment Keiko had left, a tiny, wary feeling had buried itself inside me and as the minutes passed, it began to grow and everything felt just _wrong._ I began to grow antsy to leave.

"It's getting kind of late, don't you think?" I said as casually as I could, getting up and stretching. Hopefully, he'd take the hint or-

"So you're really in love with him then." He said casually. It wasn't a question.

That stopped me dead. Slowly, I turned to face Ryuu, but he hadn't looked up from the tiny pieces of wood.

"What? Were-Were you eavesdropping?" A slow flush took over my face and I watched him with wide eyes. He snorted.

"You know, it won't work. It can't."

I let his words sink in slowly, like a rock through molasses that settled deep in my gut.

"Excuse me?" I breathed, not really believing my ears.

"It's only going to hurt in the end." He continued, undeterred. His hands stopped moving and suddenly he seemed so frustrated, throwing the wood down. "_I don't understand_. Why do you even bother? What could possibly be worth so much pain? "

My heart was trembling and I clutched it, wishing it'd stop. "What are you _talking_ about?" But then I could feel the anger and hurt coming like an angry wave. How dare he! I wasn't about to just let him talk down to me like that when he had no clue about anything! What made him think this was any of his business anyways?

"Well since you know so much," I said quietly, "Then why don't you just _share _because I obviously must be missing something . What do _you_ know? Why do you even _care_?"

Ryuu fell silent, the tension in the air palpable. I stood tersely to the side, never taking my eyes off him. Then I let out a _woosh_ of air into my hand, calming myself.

"Ok, just... just forget it, but Ryuu," I looked at him earnestly. "Where is this even coming from?" He stayed silent though as I watched in dismayed confusion as he started reaching into his jacket; something long and silver flashed.

I recognized the instrument, but was perplexed. A flute? He began to raise it to his lips.

Right before he did though, Ryuu's eyes finally flickered to meet mine and I flinched. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and reserved but his eyes told a different story.

"I... don't know."

Then he began to play.

"Ryuu what...?" I began but the rest of the words just seemed to roll off my tongue as my body relaxed to the sweet melody and colors began to blur and swirl. My ears perked at the sound.

_Strange_, I thought vaguely as if I were dreaming, _I feel like I've heard this before._

I blinked, letting my eyes adjust. I was taken hold of a powerful force of déjà vu: it was strange... everything seemed to have become more colorful somehow. And what was that... sweet... scent.

I went absolutely rigid. I knew this place. I had been here before.

My vision cleared and I swallowed a weak cry.

Once again, like so long ago, I found myself standing in the center of a familiar ring of trees, amidst a sea of flowers. It would've been exactly like I'd remembered if it weren't for the crouched figure that was picking flowers while humming, back turned. I rubbed my eyes and drew a sharp breath, and even pinched myself but the scene did not change.

"Is this another dream?" I murmured out loud, but then something rustled beside me and I whipped around quickly, expecting Kuri to come bounding with her bundle of flowers. However, instead, Ryuu stood by my side and I almost toppled over in surprise.

"Ryuu?" I loudly exclaimed, half in shock and half in panic. He didn't say anything, but only gazed ahead and avoided eye contact. He gripped his flute tightly when I called his name.

The shock was quickly wearing off while the panic steadily grew.

"I-I,"I stammered, heart hammering, "I don't understand; we were just standing on the playground! What's going on? How are you here? Ryuu, please speak to me! Are you ok?" I gripped at his sleeve tightly, and I felt him tense under my grip.

Painfully slow, he finally turned to me and as I looked, I _felt_ myself turning white as the blood drained away from my face.

His face was _changing_. As if I were looking through water, subtle changes began to ripple across his face, like the angle of his nose or the slant of his cheeks and suddenly I was looking at a completely different person; however, his cool green eyes never wavered.

As the changes began to slow, I found myself rooted to the spot though I wanted to get away and unable to tear my eyes off of him though I didn't want to see anymore. Unable to help myself, I whimpered.

"Ryuu?"

But it wasn't Ryuu.

I was staring straight into the face of Tatsuya.

And he was staring straight back at me, his expression never changing.

My brain obviously wasn't clicking because I wasn't moving to get as far away from him as possible though and to my own shock, I found that it wasn't only fear that had begun to flow through heavily in my veins.

"I was beginning to grow tired. I'm glad you could come." In my shock, I hadn't noticed how the figure had long since stopped collecting flowers and had already stood up and turned around to face us.

I swallowed hard, but found I wasn't surprised, "Asami..."

I could've almost called Asami's grin kind and I realized that right now she seemed nothing like the demon I had encountered a mere hours ago, but instead the happy mother I had thought she was during that first single fleeting moment I had laid eyes on her.

She blinked, appraising me and then looked over herself curiously. "Yes, I daresay I had my youth back then and I _was_ happy. Oh don't look like that Ren. "

"How can I not be dreaming?" I asked shakily, taking an involuntary step back. _She can read my mind, _I realized with horror.

"I can assure you this isn't a dream; this is really happening. Calm yourself though, my dear. We can't touch you here, you're only under the illusion of Tatsuya's spell. Once we were able to access your conscience with his music, I only chose a memory of yours to my liking to appear in. Like a costume." Asami chuckled light heartedly, gesturing to herself, and then looked at Tatsuya with a knowing smile.

"Well done Tatsuya. You've carried out your job well. Come now." She beckoned lightly, her blue eyes shining.

Though I'd seen it with my own eyes, I still couldn't stop the single broken cry that escaped my mouth in disbelief when Ryuu- no, Tatsuya began to move. He turned his head to gaze at me once more with...pity?... before joining Asami by her side and deadpanning.

_All this time_... I shakily realized. _The _entire_ time._

"Yes," Asami nodded in confirmation. "He was a brilliant actor though, wasn't he? You never even guessed for a moment, though there were a few times that fox demon seemed to suspect, but no matter. It's all done now."

My head was ringing, running through each time I'd interacted with him. So many unanswered questions were being answered as it all fell into place and I felt like an absolute fool, but what made me truly shudder in disgust was of how Asami was right. I _never_ suspected; instead, I basically planted myself into his hands. Why had I not questioned it more? It should have been a red flag right from the beginning on how insisting he had been to get to know me. _Stupid stupid stupid!_

I thought he was my friend and had opened up to him in confidence. I'd felt sorry for him and sympathized. I had _trusted_ him.

And it was all a lie and he had betrayed me.

That, I realized, was the worst of it: I wasn't just feeling shocked or afraid, but I was _hurt_, betrayed, and so angry- at him, sure, but even more at myself.

Asami clicked her tongue, "Now, now no need to be so hard on yourself. You weren't _supposed_ to realize."

Desperate to shake her from my head, I stifled my feelings and allowed myself to slide into a state of numbness. I couldn't let her know just how deeply shaken I had become.

"What do you want from me now? It hasn't even been three days." I said coldly, just wanting them both to say what they needed to and just _leave_.

"I'm quite aware." Asami said, "But there's been a change in plans. Though it's sooner than I expected, tomorrow Kuri's body will be nearly complete. The extraction of her soul will be a slow process as it is."

My eyes widened and I couldn't contain my shout of exclamation, "Tomorrow? But you said-"

"I made no promises." Her eyes flashed darkly. "I have waited a _long_ time, my dear and I'm afraid for you, my patience has grown rather thin."

"So that's it then," I said numbly, "You're going to take my soul _tomorrow_."

Asami smirked, "You make it sound as if I'm giving you no choice."

"You _are_ giving me no choice." I hated the shudder in my voice.

"Nonsense. There is always a choice. This is you just making yours. The fever's already set in, hasn't it?"

My lip trembled and I clenched my hands into fists, "When you take my soul... will it hurt?"

"Don't worry my dear, you won't feel a thing. In fact, you probably won't even realizing it's happening; it'll be like dying in your sleep."

I couldn't suppress a whimper and Asami smiled, continuing.

"So tomorrow, from the festival, you will meet me at the siren's fountain and from there I will return the fire demon's life and you will come home with me." she said.

"How do you know about the festival?" I asked.

Asami smirked, "We're in your mind dear. There's not much I don't know anymore."

My breath caught. Could that be true?

She only flashed me a mischievous smile though and went on.

" I'm sure it goes without saying, but you will come alone. I hate to think of the unfortunate demise of a certain beloved uncle of yours if you don't."

"No, please! Just leave him alone, he has nothing to do with this." I cried out, visibly shaking. "Please...why can't you just leave us _all_ alone."

Beside Asami, Ryuu's eyes flickered, but he didn't move and Asami only sighed exasperatedly.

"Begging doesn't suit any daughter of mine; stop that now."

There was a heavy pause as I made myself calm down.

"What are you going to do after this is all said and done?" I swallowed heavily. There was no way that she was just going through all this trouble just to get Kuri back.

Her mouth split into a sweet smile," I don't want to spoil the surprise. Besides, you won't have to worry about it anymore, so don't think about it. I'll see you tomorrow, my dear."

She waved and I blinked and she was gone.

It was all just gone.

I was back in the swing, as if I had never moved, kids jumping and laughing all around us as if no time had even passed at all. I shot up in bewilderment and jumped when I felt a rustle beside me. My blood went cold when I realized that Ryuu-Tatsuya was still beside me, looking like 'Ryuu' once more. As soon as he began to move, I flinched away and he tensed, but didn't say anything otherwise.

I turned away from him and then I found my voice.

"So everything you've ever told me, every _moment_..." I trailed off coldly, but then couldn't help the sarcastic snort that escaped at just how unbelievable everything was turning out to be. "And to think that I just...just _believed _you. Well, bravo. You really got me."

I recognized I probably should be running to get away from him as fast as possible, but I knew that he wouldn't. After all, I needed to be in one piece for tomorrow, so he probably wasn't allowed to touch me anyways.

He murmured so quietly, I almost didn't hear him, "That's not..."

"Just stop right there." I clipped. " Are you still pretending right now? Is there anything about you that's not fake? Well you can't fool me. Not anymore."

I gasped in shock when I suddenly felt a tense grip on my arm and I looked over my shoulder in a burst of fear. Ryuu's green eyes were burning brightly, full of turmoil and confusion. I was taken aback because just like before, just like _all_ those other times, the look in his eyes at that instant were genuine and I was stunned for a moment. My heart thrummed painfully as his look pierced. There was something so raw about his eyes... it's as if he were truly filled with turmoil and confusion... maybe...

_No._

I snapped out of it and jerked free of his grip. No more. I wasn't going to fall for it again.

"Just leave!" I yelled and turned my back for good.

Everything was crashing down around me and in that moment I just needed something solid to cling to, something that was still left for me to trust and believe in.

Though I hadn't wanted to admit it, I realized with quiet pain that from the moment I'd left Asami's wretched hole I had already begun to resign myself to my impending fate. I was running on borrowed time.

As the seconds ticked away, I began to understand that these were my last moments and that out of all the possible things I could do, all I could think about was going to see Hiei.

The thought of his name alone made me freeze and I immediately felt guilty.

We had _promised_ each other no more secrets... Hiei had never doubted me, even when I did which killed me enough. Yet here I was with_ another_ one that I could absolutely not tell. How awful was I? Hopefully he would come to understand later that it was for his sake in the end; that's the only hope I could cling on without making me feel completely wretched. I would leave him as a betrayer... but if it would save his life, then it had to be done.

Asami was right. There was a choice and I had already made mine.

I sighed. The only benefit of Hiei's weakened state was the lack of connection in our bond, otherwise Hiei would definitely pick up my anxiety and call me out on it.

"Ren? Where's your friend? Everything ok?"

I snapped up to see Keiko coming to meet me. I was surprised to see Yusuke in tow, not realizing he'd come; he was a spectacle to behold with one corndog in his mouth and two more in each hand. Though he was unable to talk, he arched a brow in his own curiosity.

"He had to go." I had to be as casual as possible, so I summoned a smile to my face. I was ashamed of how good of an actor I had become. Other than a confused glance and a shrug, the matter was quickly dismissed.

"Oh, too bad." said Keiko. "Anyways, it'll be dark out soon and we were thinking about heading home. Ready?"

"Yeah." I said, desperate to get away from this place. I paused, thinking, and asked carefully, "Have you heard anything from the others?"

Yusuke finished off the corn dog in a couple of bites and spit the stick out, "Nope, haven't heard anything. Hiei couldn't even get up so Kurama put him back to sleep when I was still there."

I couldn't stop the crest-fallen look that came upon my face and I didn't miss Keiko elbowing Yusuke in the ribs who choked in surprise.

"Don't worry Ren," she said quickly, "No news is good news."

"Yeah." I said though there was no relief in my words, "Maybe."

"Let's go back to Kuwabara's then. He could be awake for all we know. I'm sure he'll want to see you!" Keiko said then looked at me with a question in her eyes. "Will you be ok?"

At the thought of seeing Hiei, I couldn't tell if there were butterflies or pins and needles rolling around in my stomach, but I nodded stiffly. I needed to snap out of this nervous state or whatever it was, but how was I supposed to look at him in the face _now_ with all these thoughts and Keiko and I's conversation still fresh in my mind?

I would just have to pull through the rest of today and tomorrow, and just try to enjoy the rest of it. Speaking of enjoying...

"Hey Keiko, I think you were right about us needing to take a breather." I said, trying to sound cheerful. "I'm sure it'd be a lot of fun if we all went to the festival tomorrow." _Yes,_ I thought, _that'd work._ At the festival, all of their guard's would definitely be let down at least a little more than normal and it'd be easier to pull off getting away with everyone distracted.

Keiko started in confusion for a second but the beaming smile that followed made my heart squeeze in guilt.

"Really? Honestly, I was expecting that I was going to have work a lot more to persuade you, but whatever!" She gazed at me expectantly, "Will you still wear the yukata I've laid aside? I'm excited for the fireworks too."

"There's a festival tomorrow?" Yusuke asked with arched brows.

Keiko nodded, "You should help me convince everyone in going when we get there, Yusuke! Remember when we were little and we used to go to them all the time? Oh, I always think about that one time when you tried to catch a goldfish and ended up falling into the water instead."

"Hey! That's because you pushed me!" Yusuke cried.

Keiko shrugged, "If I did, then you probably deserved it."

As Keiko chatted away with the occasional remark from Yusuke, I found myself smiling a little.

At least with this, maybe I could forget about what was to come if only for a little while.

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><p>Please Please Please Review! :D<p>

I really was impatient to post this because now things are about to pick up I think so I'm excited O_O and thus why I'm posting before my beta has probably even looked at it XD

But I actually have class in about half an hour so I'm speeding to get this posted! UGH PHYSICSSS HELPP

Excited for what's coming? I hope so O_O

P.S. I'm just reminding you that the drabble spin-off based on this story has been posted already so I'd LOVE it if you went to check it out! Reminder that I won't be updating that until I finish this (Who honestly knows when that is: hopefully sooner than later!) But please let me know what you think of the idea and start suggesting any prompt ideas that maybe you'd like to see! ;D

As always: Love, InuChimera7410


	24. Yesterday Is But Today's Memory

Hello peeps! I've got a pretty short chapter for you today, and sadly, no Hiei in this one! But fear not, $hit's about to hit the fan pretty soon and we'll see plenty of him O_O

Enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 24- Yesterday Is But Today's Memory<p>

That night, I found myself in a dream for the last time.

I stood quietly to the side, invisible and nonexistent, as Kuri insistently tugged in vain on Riku's arms.

Though I didn't know why, I was immediately filled with a dark dread that only grew from the look on Kuri's face. Desperation and fear flooded her eyes.

However, Riku was only frowning deeply in concern, refusing to move. "Kuri, what's the matter? What's going on?"

" Riku," She cried, "We need to go _now_. I promise I'll explain, but we have to get away from here!" She meant it too. She would finally explain _everything_, but just as soon as they were safe. They had no time!

However, Riku refused to budge and gripped Kuri's shoulders, deaf to her cries, "Kuri, tell me what's going on."

A quiet crackling that had been muffled before was slowly creeping into a thundering roar and the couple snapped their heads towards the sound, Riku in bewilderment and Kuri in despair. Beyond the screen doors, there was an increasing flurry of activity and noise. Riku jumped when the undeniable sound of people screaming pierced through the night.

Riku paled, frozen in confusion and growing realization, "What the..."

Kuri, white as a sheet, yanked on him all the more desperately and he stumbled a couple of steps her way until the screaming grew louder and the sound of wood snapping and the smell of burning began to creep into the room. Vicious orange and red shadows began to dance behind the doors.

She swallowed a scream of her own when a particularly terrified shriek was abruptly cut off and something red and dark was sprayed across the screen door and dripped down. A black shadow crept closer to the door and the blood that rushed through Kuri's veins turned to lead as the figure stopped just outside the door.

She began to tremble violently as the smell of the blood began to wash over her, nearly making her physically sick; she was paralyzed as a certain dark memory from her childhood rooted itself into her mind.

Kuri was almost oblivious as Riku swept her behind him and searched around in a futile effort for some kind of way to defend themselves.

The screen slowly slid open, a nauseating _drip_ practically echoing as they waited with bated breath. Each drop echoed like thunder in Kuri's mind, like a hammer striking her down again and again and again.

Highlighted by a crackling, sadistic fire, Asami's face was hidden in the tangles of her loose hair as she slowly padded into the room, her once beautiful kimono drenched in the blood of innocents. In one hand, she was dragging the body of a guard; in the other, she was carrying his decapitated head.

Riku sucked in a breath in horror, but Kuri was still struggling with her phobia, barely able to tear her eyes from the gore trailing behind her mother.

Asami chucked the corpse from both her hands; both pieces landed with sickening thuds against the walls, the rattle of his armor and spear resounding across the room. Her once electric blue eyes were black in the firelight.

She looked up and though her expression was clouded in a dark shadow, even she could not completely contain the violent anger and hatred shaking off her entire being.

"_I smell it._" Asami's voice was hoarse with disbelief and betrayal. "_That stink...It's_ _all over you. Everywhere._"

Kuri's eyes widened with horror in realization, but Riku only braced himself.

"Stay back demon," Riku hissed, waving his hand in a slicing gesture. Asami didn't flinch; it's like she didn't even _see _him, only through him. Her eyes were fixed on Kuri.

"My own daughter..." Asami whispered, almost brokenly, stepping closer, "Betrayed again... just like _him_."

"I said back!" Riku yelled bravely stepping forward, but in vain. I cried out as Asami stuck out an arm and in one gentle sweep shoved Riku's body across the room as if he was just a doll. He slammed against the wall with a breathless gasp and crumpled to the ground. Visibly shaking but conscious, he gasped sharply, gingerly trying to wrap an arm over his torso, in obvious pain. Asami had crushed a good side of his ribs with that single blow.

"No...Riku!" Kuri wheezed, but let out a broken cry of fear at the sight of the slow line of red that dribbled down his face. A shadow began to overtake her and she forced herself to face her mother who was now within arm's reach.

Asami's eyes flickered, black receding to blue for a single instant as she looked upon her daughter. Her form sagged and the lines of hundreds of years were highlighted in the shadows of her face; for a single instant, Asami was just a mother who was very old and very sad.

"Kuri... what were you thinking?" She whispered and Kuri's throat tightened, unable to summon her voice. The only sound was the popping and sinister snapping of the fire.

"With a _human_ no less. Have I done something so wrong that all the people I love must betray me and abandon me for _them_?"

"No..." Kuri choked out, but Asami disregarded her and slowly sank to a crouch. Heart thrumming wildly, Kuri whimpered and went stiff as Asami's hands came to caress her face; she didn't dare move.

"I should've known from the very beginning; it's in your polluted blood. Raizen couldn't resist one of the worthless scum either, so how could you... I should've just killed you the moment I laid eyes on you." Asami's grip on her face tightened, the tips of her nails barely digging into her face. Then she let go and drew herself back up to standing over her.

Her eyes had become overcast in their dead-like shadow, "I will do you the justice, my dear, of putting you out of your misery now; I would rather _die_ than to watch my own flesh and blood have the child of _vermin_."

Kuri's heart stopped as Asami raised her glistening hand and gave her a last, solemn look.

"I'm sorry, my dear." Asami whispered broken-heartedly and she lashed out.

Kuri screamed and blood splattered all over her face.

Her eyes were wide with horror and shock, mirroring Asami's own. Both of their gazes were drawn to the jagged spear that had erupted out of Asami's chest, her clawed hand frozen in mid-air and astonishment, only inches away from her daughter. _That was the guard's spear_, I immediately realized.

"Kuri, you have to go." Riku grit out, twisting the spear from behind Asami, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Kuri remained frozen though, the realization of what just happened dawning so fast and furiously she felt faint. However, her mother was quickly overcoming her own shock and began to reach for the spear. Alarmed, Riku twisted and shoved it in a little further in a desperate effort to buy a few more seconds.

"_Kuri._ Run _now! _Get away from here and run and don't stop!" He yelled at her and she shakily raised her gaze to meet his. They shone with pain, fire, and fear, but beneath all of that, with a set determination.

Then for the last time, his eyes went soft and loving as he looked at her, "Go." He said earnestly and she fully understood. This was goodbye.

She knew that she would never see those eyes again.

Kuri's body and mind seemed to go numb, and she was oblivious to the tears that streamed down her face. She looked upon her beloved's face for a long moment and she was absolutely sure that she would not leave, _could _not, but his eyes flickered and fell to her stomach; her breath caught and her resolve crumbled into dust. She forced herself to look away and then, before she knew it, was running, winning over her phobia that had paralyzed her before; running for her life and leaving behind everything she loved.

Riku took a shuddery breath of relief as Kuri escaped, but it was short lived. They were trapped in a ring of fire and he was alone and powerless against this demon.

All he saw was a sharp flurry of silk before the end of the spear was ripped from his hands as Asami turned, grabbed him and yanked him to her chest .

_Shlunk!_

Straight onto the tip of the spear.

The shock far exceeded the pain. His mind went blank and he barely realized that something thick and warm was spilling from his mouth; his vision began blur.

Asami only pulled him further down and he continued to choke and sputter until he couldn't breathe. Holding him with one hand, she reached behind his back and with a quick stroke, ripped the spear up and out of their bodies with her free one; It was slicked bright red in their blood. The fresh hole in her bosom bled freely, but she barely glanced at it, her gaze focused on Riku's.

"Just like a stuck pig..." She said so quietly that he barely heard her as everything faded around him. Then the evil glint of her hatred shone in her eyes once more and she opened her mouth to reveal a snarl. "But you know , I wouldn't mind pig for dinner."

~.~.~.~.~

I blinked and I found myself on a familiar mountain edge with Kuri. She couldn't rip her eyes away as she watched the castle and the entire village continue to burn into the night before her eyes. Even as the castle gave out and toppled down, she watched. She knew she couldn't stay there for long though, but she could not bring herself to turn away.

She knew without a doubt that Asami was alive; she could just feel it. Stray tears floated down her face because she knew that Riku's sacrifice had been in vain. He might have saved her for the moment, but he should've known that with him, she had died as well. Except... her hands hovered over her stomach and with a painful heart, she turned away.

Asami couldn't have been mistaken. She was with child and what maybe would've made her overjoyed before only dragged her down into despair. _It _ was why all those innocent people had been murdered, why _Riku_ had given up his life. She choked out a broken sob. How could this life inside her be any good when it had caused the destruction of all she loved?

She tore her eyes away and turned to face the tunnel that Riku had once shown her all those many months ago when they had been happy and she had been naive. She didn't turn back as she forced one foot in front of the other; she had to make herself focus only on getting away or she really would not be able to go on. She reached the end quickly and walked out, gazing at the stars that had once seemed to gleam with a beautiful light but only felt so cold now.

_Where was she supposed to go?_

She could travel further into the mountains but she was pregnant with Riku's child. Whether she loved it or not, this was all she had left of Riku and she swore that she would survive to see it born. She glanced over the edge and frowned. It was no use, the side of the mountain was too steep and plummeted straight down for what looked like a 60 , maybe more, meter drop. Maybe she would've risked it before, but at the thought of hurting her baby...

Something snapped behind her and several rocks fell down, startling her. She spun around in fear and for a split second she imagined her mother's eyes staring straight at her, but she realized too late that she had already lost her balance had started sliding backwards off the edge. Terror re-igniting through her body, she desperately tried to swing back, but it was impossible.

_NO!_

Alone and already broken , she fell.

~.~.~.~.~

_This was finally it._ Kuri thought weakly.

They had come to the end.

I still stood there, as if I had never moved, but we were in a hut now and Kuri was lying on a straw futon, her once flat belly now huge and heaving. Her entire body was soaked with sweat and fever and shook with pain from her labor.

There were two other women there that I didn't know. One had graying hair and was obviously getting on in her years, but she was snapping at the other girl, maybe her daughter, for hot water and was cutting cloth into strips with a quick and practiced hand. Regardless of whom this woman was, childbirth was obviously not new to her.

But besides the strangers, what shocked me most of all was Kuri's physical condition. Her face seemed tight with dark shadows, and she just looked _sick. _Her eyes scared me most of all: they had lost their shine and simply looked on, void of any life or will and only filled with deep pain. I don't know how I knew, but just looking into her eyes it became clear and I understood.

Like a flower that had wasted away because of lack of sunlight , Kuri was dying. What was worse was that she knew it too and wasn't even fighting.

Kuri was tired. She had held on for this long and she would hold on for a little longer, but she didn't want to fight anymore. How could one lose everything and go on, only to suffer forever?

This world, from the start, had been terrible. From the very beginning, she had always known that her mother was a monster when she had witnessed her first death and that had always been painful because she loved Asami terribly. Then when she had found a love of her own, it had all burned away in flames and she had lost _everything_. But now it would finally come to an end; she would carry through to have this child, for Riku, and then she would die.

She just wanted the pain to be over.

She felt sorry for the child that she would be abandoning though. In all honesty, she felt like she had endured enough pain and couldn't bear to think of what terrible things awaited for the poor child in this cruel world. Ultimately in the end, like everything else she loved, she knew that it would just break her heart. So she'd rather just not love it at all. She hated herself for thinking it, supposing that it was very inhuman of her, but that would be when she would remember, almost with shock, that she _wasn't_ human. She never had been.

Tears began to leak down her face. So many regrets... she had never even told Riku the truth, how she was a demon and about her past. With growing fear, she even began to think that the girl he had fallen in love with may not have even been her at all, but a fool's false reality. Being at the castle, falling in love, _living_... somewhere in her heart, it was like she had really wanted to become human because she had loved them, but if she had only known the extent of the pain they were fated to suffer. Even if she had stayed with Riku, she realized, something would have separated them eventually, whether it be the truth of her person, age, or some other incident- it had never been possible, just a forlorn dream.

Her thoughts strayed to wondering where she would go when she died. How likely would it be for her to see Riku again? Did demons go to the same place humans did? She had no idea but hoped more than anything that he would be there, waiting for her. If she ever did see him again, she would tell him all that she never got to- but wherever she did go, she felt some sort of peace for the first time in many months. She wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.

She groaned loudly as severe pain racked her body. The old woman started talking to her, instructing her with a confident shout despite the agony she was in, while the younger one moved to caress Kuri's head, petting her hair and continuously whispering words of encouragement and comfort.

For a long, terrible time, it really was too much for her and she felt like she couldn't do it, like the end was coming right then and there, but then it was all over and Kuri's body fell limp, chest heaving sharply as a sharp squealing cry flooded the room.

_It was done. It's really over... _However, Kuri's heart was hammering and she only felt worse than before, knowing the small thing that had destroyed her world was right _there_, obliviously howling away.

The young woman squeezed Kuri's hand in congratulations as the old woman tended to the squirming and crying thing in her arms, wiping away the muck and wrapping it in a fresh cloth. Though the woman's face was wrinkled from years of labor and sun, her eyes had grown soft and an awed smile had graced her face.

"My lady..." she began softly, "You've had a girl. Would you like to hold her?"

Kuri squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head painfully. No, she didn't want to see it. She wished with all her heart in that moment for the woman to take it away from her forever and just let her live her last moments in peace, but the woman just looked surprised.

Her eyes were wide and insistent, "But she's beautiful my lady! Please..."

Heart in mouth, Kuri didn't have the strength to argue and gave in with a shuddery breath. Beaming, the woman rushed to crouch beside her head and with a heavy heart, Kuri weakly held out her arms to receive the baby. She just held it in her arms for a moment but finally gave in and looked down.

Her reaction was immediate and overwhelming as Kuri shamelessly broke down into tears.

Bewildered and concerned, the woman asked her what was wrong, but Kuri could barely speak and only managed to choke out a few words.

"Her eyes..." Kuri wept. "They're just like her father's."

In the beautiful blessing she held in her arms, she could see Riku looking back at her once more when she thought she never would again, but also, she saw herself and she only cried harder, pulling her little girl closer, a pure and crushing love sweeping and overflowing in her soul. She _was _beautiful.

"Mother!" Kuri barely was aware of the young girl who had left her side and had moved around her and was now speaking with a frantic and fear-filled voice. "The bleeding! She hasn't stopped!"

That's right, Kuri remembered. She was still dying... she was too far gone now as she suddenly became aware of how she felt like she was slowly slipping away. Her heartbeat hadn't ceased to hammer and it wouldn't be long now 'til it gave out. Even now, as hard as she tried, she felt her arms around her child growing weaker and weaker. The tears came harder, but silently now and she shakily reached up to touch her baby's face.

The woman tried to take her child away as soon as she realized what was happening to Kuri, but she held on tightly.

"No! Don't take her... from me!" She whispered urgently, but the woman didn't have time to argue with her and she went back to trying to stop the bleeding. Kuri relaxed though, knowing it was a futile effort. Her breath began to come in short and slow.

"Sweet girl... you'll have to... forgive me for having to leave you... so soon." She said tearfully, "Please, I beg of you... to find ...happiness."

But looking at her little girl, she was filled with a final pressing fear. Asami was still out there, looking for her. If her child was ever found- she couldn't bear the thought of Asami getting her. She wouldn't be here to protect her beautiful child...her Emiko.

She suddenly weakly grabbed out, hand moving around until she found something to grab onto and tugged. The woman was instantly by her side, but the panic had left her eyes and just held a somber despair, but Kuri had already accepted it. She couldn't waste the precious moments she had left though.

"Her name... is..Emi..ko. Emiko." She wheezed out. The woman nodded sadly, but firmly and went to reach for Emiko again, but Kuri softly batted her away.

"Please... let me hold her... one last.. time." Kuri looked in Emiko's eyes again, and Riku stared back and she was truly happy one more.

Kuri pressed her forehead gently to Emiko's.

She had made her decision.

_Thank you... for letting me meet you. I love you so much... but you don't have to worry. _

Kuri firmed her resolve, and kissed Emiko's brow earnestly.

_I will __**always**__ be there to protect you._

Between them, a warm glow began to burn bright and strong and Kuri took one more breath before her eyes closed and she went still.

As I woke up, the sound of Emiko's wail echoed painfully through the air as her mother let her go.

~.~.~.~.~

I jerked up, heart hammering and covered in sweat. I let my head fall into my hands and I cried.

I cried and cried until I felt completely drained and had to make myself lay back down, completely exhausted. It was still dark out, maybe a little past midnight and I was still in my room at Keiko's as I had been when I first went to bed, but I would not be going back to sleep tonight. No, not after that.

I had a feeling deep inside that I would not be having anymore dreams, but I couldn't stop shaking or shake any of the memories from my head.

_So that's what happened..._ I thought, my heart squeezing painfully. I had to swallow the tears that once again threatened to come up.

But if there was one thing I didn't understand, it was why Asami would possibly want to bring Kuri back if she had felt so angry and betrayed by her?

What could she possibly be after? Of course, no answer came to me.

I held my hand up to my face, examining the familiar lines and fingers. This was _my_ hand... However, in another dream, I distinctly recalled having another one, very much _not_ mine.

How could we possibly be the same person? Maybe it just didn't work like that then and it was silly to think we would have the same bodies though our souls were the same. I still couldn't really wrap my mind around it.

And if Asami had been right all along, that my soul has always been Kuri's , then all those dreams I'd had were actually my memories. I shook my head.

No, not my memories- they were _Kuri's_. If I was Kuri, then was I even _me_ at all? Did _I_ really exist?

Because whether or not it was true, the me now wasn't Kuri. I could never be her. I had my own memories, my own feelings and experiences so that left the question to what would happen after _my _soul, not Kuri's, I firmly thought, would be passed into the empty body waiting to be filled.

Would I remember myself?

Or would it be the same thing as dying?

Or would I just disappear, erasing me like a wrong answer and correcting it with the right one, except from existence?

Deep thoughts late at night really were the worst and I tried to squash them down and not think about it anymore, but there was no stopping the train of thought now.

I wouldn't miss school at least, I thought, trying to humor myself though it didn't last long.

What would Mako do when he realized that I had vanished? And that was if he woke up at all. Would he miss me or go looking for me, never knowing that I wasn't coming back? Or would he even remember me at all?

I was filled with a swift and terrible fear. Could that happen? If I was wiped from existence, would everyone else forget me too? No, that was silly. Things didn't work like that... I think.

But if they did... would it really be just like that? I would be gone and no one would even notice or remember. Maybe though, I would become something like the whisper of a memory that got hidden away. Someone would see something that would remind them of me and maybe they wouldn't exactly know what it was, but they know it was _something_... There just couldn't be _nothing_.

With a sickening ache in my chest, whether or not everyone missed me, I would miss them and painfully so. I couldn't imagine my life without any of them. But there was one more than anyone else... I swallowed hard.

There was no denying that Hiei, even just the thought of him at this moment, seemed to mean something a lot more to me than anything else... Keiko had said it was love, and though the idea still terrified me, I began to wonder how long I could deny it until I just couldn't any longer. That maybe I really was...

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Thinking of Hiei made me think of the dream and remember... every time Riku was there, I could only think of Hiei. Even when he died... I saw Hiei die, before my eyes, completely powerless to do anything. That's why I was giving up my soul though, so that that wouldn't happen. If I couldn't imagine my life without Keiko or Yusuke or Yukina and the rest of them, then I couldn't even begin to imagine living without Hiei, not being by my side from day to day and onwards...

I quieted my thoughts, just staring into the darkness, pondering for a moment.

If there was one thing I wished though, more than anything else, it would be to know if Hiei would even miss me.

_Maybe_, I thought absently, _he'll even think about me sometimes..._

I closed my eyes, just thinking, until without realizing, I fell back into a dreamless sleep.

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><p>Not going to lie guys, but I'm super upset right now! I lost my USB that had freaking most of the next two chapters written and planned out... SIGH *FLIPS ALL THE TABLES* WAAAAAH T-T<p>

So I was going to post this earlier (for Valentine's day, as a gift!), but I was thinking that I would be extra super nice and post two at once, but of course THIS HAPPENS, so you just get a small chapter instead T-T I'm so so so so so sorry...

But with that, life must go on, and I'm sorry to say it might take a little longer to get the next chapter out because of college and serious depression at losing all of that work, but I'll try my best! Physics is kicking my freaking butt :(

I love you all, my readers and reviewers!

Love, InuChimera7410


	25. Under A Sky of Fire

Hello O_O I'm back. This chapter is significantly longer than the last xD

I'm SO SO excited to finally be posting this chapter! I hope you guys love it :)

Enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 25- Under A Sky of Fire<p>

"And done! Oh, you look beautiful Ren! Ren?" A hand passed over my face.

"Sorry, what?" I was finding it more and more difficult to focus on anything as the minutes ticked by. I couldn't stop thinking about Kuri and my dream last night; when I blinked, I could see everything happen again and hear the lonesome screams of her newborn child… I couldn't think straight. Yet Keiko only beamed at me, oblivious to the turmoil that churned inside me, and turned me around to face her mirror.

The yukata she had lent me really was beautiful. It was a deep blue with sakura blossoms and vines that littered the ends of the sleeves and the bottom then finished off with a darker obi that Keiko had tied into an elegant bow in the back.

"Are you sure I can wear this Keiko?" I asked, moving gingerly, afraid to wrinkle the lovely fabric.

She nodded, "I already told you it was fine. Now, one last touch," She pulled a thin clip from her dresser and pulled my hair up. It was the first time in a while that I would be wearing it like this.

Poking her face around my shoulder, she smiled, "Perfect. Now Hiei won't be able to resist."

I flushed darkly, but skirted around the comment, "I know Yusuke will have something to say too."

She just rolled her eyes and chuckled, "Yeah right, like that idiot notices anything." Keiko's yukata was light orange with large red flowers and a bright red obi, a small flower threaded into her hair; coupled with her cheerful smile, she was radiant.

"Well then, we should get going soon. The others are probably wondering where we are, and I'm sure you're eager to see Hiei." Of course she was right. I had almost felt sick the entire way back to Kuwabara's yesterday only to find that Hiei was still unconscious. I was relieved to see that color had come back to his complexion and he was breathing much easier with Yukina's care.

I hated myself to admit that even _now_ I felt a tiny bit jealous, at a time like this. Yukina was only doing everything she could to help, but it never failed to twist my heart in the wrong way regardless and only now was I beginning to realize how ugly a feeling it was; when had this little jealousy monster of mine become something not-so-little?

Knowing how I had just run out of the room instead, I just felt guilty and pathetic in comparison and I was actually glad that he wasn't awake to see me like this. However, Botan had come to meet Keiko and I this morning with report from Kurama saying that Hiei would be waking up soon and that he should be strong enough to go the festival with the rest of us. She briefly mentioned Kurama's reluctance about actually going too, and I had a sneaking suspicion that he might've been coerced into going, but if that was true Botan failed to mention it.

Keiko smoothed down her robe and ushered me downstairs where Botan was waiting for us. She was in her own pretty kimono, a bright pink robe laced with white flowers and a white, red-accented obi. She squealed and clapped her hands in excitement when we came down.

"Oh you both look so cute! This was such a good idea Keiko. It'll be nice to just relax and have fun today."

That sounded just about impossible to do, but I nodded and smiled along with Keiko.

Outside, groups of people were already out and about despite how early it was, and the atmosphere was already buzzing with chatter and delight, but I felt neither. Rather, the closer we got to Kuwabara's, the more my stomach would alternate between fluttering butterflies and gut-wrenching drops.

When we arrived, Yukina was the one to let us in. Back in her typical icy blue and red yukata, she looked a little tired, but ultimately cheerful and spritely, and ushered us in with a smile.

"You guys look wonderful, and you came just in time too. Hiei should've woken up by now and I was just about to go check on him." She told us as we walked to the living room. My stomach flip-flopped again and I sat down before my jellified legs gave out.

"Hey guys, took you long enough." Yusuke sauntered into the room with a wave and plopped down on the sofa. Keiko crossed her arms with an eye roll.

"The life of a woman's is difficult..." Botan sighed dramatically, "We go through all this trouble of looking nice while boys like you could care less!" Yusuke snorted and didn't even bother denying it. Kuwabara came in moments later, sporting his own yukata.

"I am so ready to whoop some ass on some festival games!" He laughed loudly, flexing. "I'm the grand champion when it comes to goldfish scooping."

"Yeah whatever, I can't wait to get my hands on all the stall food." Yusuke was almost drooling at the thought.

"You're such a glutton." Keiko chastised, but was smiling nonetheless.

Their laughter echoed and dissipated in my head as it all faded away. It made me happy to see everyone at ease, but at the same time, a small bitterness began to well up and pull my heart down. I had to remind myself that they didn't know what was happening, what was going to happen, but the jealousy of their ignorance burned through my veins like poison.

There was a light touch to my shoulder, "Ren?"

My heart flew from my feet to my throat in a flash and I jumped in surprise; Yukina instantly snapped back, equally as startled.

Her eyes were wide and concerned, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You've been really quiet and you seem tense... are you still worried about Hiei?"

I was still trying to calm my accelerating heart, but the flush that descended over my face didn't help. Well… she was half right.

"Why is everyone bringing Hiei up all of the sudden?" I grumbled in exasperation. Yukina blinked, taken aback and I felt guilty at my tone, but after a moment's hesitation she just came around to sit beside me.

"He's been restless since you left yesterday you know. He won't say so out loud, but I think he really wants to see you and is just too stubborn to ask."

At the mention of yesterday, I inwardly cringed, but something ugly must've come across my face because Yukina became really confused.

"Do you not want to see him?" She exclaimed, as if the idea hadn't even crossed her mind.

"No! It's not that!" I immediately contradicted, but only flushed deeper realizing what I was insinuating at the same time. Yukina relaxed, but cocked her head to the side.

I grew solemn, resigning myself and gave a Yukina a side-long glance, "I... really do want to see him, but..." I think I knew what was really holding me back, and I slumped over in defeat. "Yukina... I'm really scared."

"Scared?" She repeated softly.

"I… I already feel like I've lost so much . Everything I do just seems to lead to more pain; anything I bother to... love is just _cursed…_ so, I just don't _want _to. If I don't feel, I'm safe, they're safe, and everything's ok. As soon as I even start to care though, people just get hurt and worse. I loved my mother, but well... I loved my uncle, but now he's in a coma in a hospital because of me which is no way of living and right now, Hiei is..." The words stuck in my throat. "I _can't_."

Yukina had remained quiet, letting me speak, but as soon as I had stopped, she grabbed my hand gently, and looked me straight in the eye; I had never seen her more serious.

"I know it hurts." She began, making my heart pang, but she continued, "But you have got to know that there is _good_ in it too. There will _always_ be the threat of rejection and it will never be any less painful, but you can't just lock yourself away because at the same time, there is hope and beauty in just _loving_. Ren, you can't hope to ever receive if you aren't willing to first give away. Rejection is always painful, but to be able to still feel that despite the pain, to love fully, and to give it whole heartedly without reserve... that's what _real_ love is. To be willing to give it unconditionally without expecting anything in return... Just keep in mind that sometimes things like this need to be said aloud. I'm not talking about blindly dedicating yourself to one thing without anything in return but having the willingness to do that. But I really want you to talk to Hiei- just go see him; you may be surprised."

She released my hand and I knew I was dismissed. With a trembling heart, I took a deep breath and slowly got up, thinking over the things she'd just told me.

_To give it whole heartedly..._ I thought.

I shuffled towards the hall, risking a final glance at Yukina who gave me an encouraging smile. I sighed and, firming my resolve, walked to the door.

~.~.~.~.~

Even though he was just now slowly coming back to consciousness, Hiei was pissed. He recognized the sluggish feeling in his muscles and the recognizable pull to reality as if he were coming out of a deep dream. He had obviously been drugged.

_That damn fox..._ Hiei mumbled inside, albeit fuzzily. _I'm going to kill him one of these days._

He peeled his eyes open, vision blurry, but he immediately recognized the flash of vibrant red hair; he wasn't surprised but just managed to spit out a frustrated growl.

"Kurama, you bastard..." Hiei groaned, starting to move around as he regained his bearings.

Kurama's face slowly swam into focus. He was smirking, but his eyes were serious as well, "I must apologize Hiei. It appears that the drug might've been too potent for you... it worked a little too well."

Hiei let out a snort, but it was a weak one so Kurama could tell that he at least wasn't seriously angry. Though not livid, he was far from being pleased.

"How _dare_ you Kurama?" Hiei seethed, pushing himself up now. He was pleased to realize that he had regained some of his strength, if anything.

Kurama crossed his arms, expression not changing, "I acted on the basis of what I thought was the best for your well-being. In your state yesterday, you really couldn't afford to put any unnecessary stress on your body. If you did, the more you would have endangered yourself."

"I've been just lying here since _yesterday_? What the hell!" Hiei spat.

Kurama sighed, "Then if not for your sake," he said, promptly disregarding Hiei's exclamation, "then for Yukina's. She dedicated a lot of her time and energy into healing you. Might I suggest a little bit of gratitude?"

Hiei visibly calmed down, 'hn'ing, but he glanced away with a frown. A beat of silence passed and Kurama could tell that there was something else too. His green eyes softened in understanding.

"Ren is alright Hiei. If that's what you're worried about," Kurama said.

Hiei's reaction was abrupt; for an instant, his body when rigid and his expression was off-guard and surprised, his eyes shining with relief and confusion until he immediately fixed his face once more, but Kurama hadn't missed it . He hid a knowing smile.

"Actually, that's another thing." Here Kurama frowned, "There's a local festival by the river and the girls have decided that we'll be attending today. I told them that we should wait and see how you were feeling, but otherwise, that we could go."

Hiei tensed up, "Is that really wise Kurama?"

"I am wary of how this could be potentially dangerous, but as long as we're all with one another in the same area, I think we should be fine. We'll just have to be careful... Though, admittedly, the most careful decision would be to not go in the first place, but it might be nice to have a little breather from all this madness. "

Hiei didn't feel any less wary, but he was just as desperate, if not more, to get out of this room, and also... the raw despair of Ren's emotions still felt fresh in his mind and Hiei was deeply disturbed. It bothered him how acutely he'd felt them, but he couldn't shake the look on her face from his mind. Even now he couldn't explain her expression, but all he knew was that he needed to see her for himself. He felt that somehow all that pain had come from _him_ in some way, only the biggest reminder of how utterly powerless he was, even more so now.

He clenched the blankets over him, now sitting up, "We can't just keep sitting around and waiting for something to happen. I'll go to this 'festival,' but after, we focus on retrieving my energy. The sooner I get my ki back the better. Then we can properly handle Asami and her henchmen and this nightmare can be over."

Kurama was silent for a few moments, thinking. A subtle, different atmosphere seemed to settle over the room then, one of a more solemn mood. When Kurama spoke again, there was a weary caution and genuine curiosity in his tone.

He began hesitantly, "It's always difficult to imagine anything ending, but it makes me wonder. Hiei... after all is said and done and you manage to regain your ki and powers, what do you plan to do?"

Hiei blinked at the sincerity and serious undertone of Kurama's question, taken aback.

"What do you think? Return to the Makai, what else." He said, turning away.

Kurama paused and then he fixed his most sincere look at Hiei and asked quietly, "...What about Ren?"

~.~.~.~.~

My fist had been raised and had nearly descended to knock on the door when my ears caught the sound of my name and my body utterly froze.

_What...?_

~.~.~.~.~

Kurama's face was stoic, but he noticed how fast Hiei's body went stiff.

"What do you mean by that?" Hiei responded tightly, "What about her?"

"I can't imagine that you can just return to the Makai with the bond and you certainly can't expect her to go with you. Or is that what you had intended?" Kurama asked.

"Are you mad? Of course I hadn't" Hiei snapped, alarmed at the thought.

Kurama didn't react, "Then... what? After all this, you'd really just go back to Mukuro's?" Kurama had no intention of upsetting Hiei, but besides the fact that he was honestly curious as to what was going through Hiei's head right now, he wanted him to realize what was happening and make him aware of the fact that with the way things were now, Hiei would have to make a decision in the future.

Suddenly aggravated, Hiei responded with a growl, "No! I mean, yes... I don't know. We'll find a way to remove the bond..." the words almost felt strange to say for him and suddenly he was unsure and confused, but he fixed a steely glare on Kurama and went on. He was growing defensive quickly, Kurama's knowing eyes piercing through him. He knew that stare- Kurama was trying to analyze him with that cool, calculated look which went past the exterior and dug deep; he could only imagine what he was thinking. Alarmed, Hiei lashed out without thinking, desperate to get off the topic as fast as possible. Never had he felt so vulnerable.

"After we get rid of the bond, as far as I'm concerned, the girl can carry on with her life. Just because you're fond of humans Kurama doesn't mean that _I am_. There is nothing for me here- the Makai is my only home. There's no place else I belong." He grit out. He didn't allow himself to think twice about his words; he forced himself to hold his grimace, staring straight back at Kurama.

However, Hiei was taken aback when Kurama sighed deeply, a touch of sadness sweeping across his face, "Even after all this time, you're still going to let your pride be your downfall. I had hoped you might've learned something from all this... Though you may choose to deny it, you're not the same as you were all those months ago Hiei and try as you might, you're not nearly as heartless as you would like to be. It pains me to see you so obviously blind... but maybe when all is said and done, you might be able to see what _is_ here and might find you've had a change of heart." Hiei was stunned into silence, but before he could even make sense of Kurama's words and his own thoughts, they were suddenly interrupted by a rapping at the door.

"You can come in." Kurama called and the door was shot open; Botan spun through the door, beaming and twirling her kimono, sweeping her arms gracefully.

"We're ready to go!" Botan chimed.

Kurama chuckled while Hiei just grimaced. She pouted, crossing her arms at his reaction, but she looked relieved as well.

"How are you feeling Hiei?" She asked.

Hiei just shrugged and threw the covers off, swinging his legs out of bed. So far so good- no dizziness, just stiffness from lack of use. He carefully stood up, wobbled a second, but waved off their concern in frustration. One step, two... he smirked.

"I'm fine." He said, feeling smug.

Kurama arched an eyebrow, skeptical, but Botan clapped happily.

"I'm so glad! Everyone will be so relieved to hear that. Now come on, they're all waiting, but don't over exert yourself." She said.

Hiei hesitated, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Is... Ren waiting?"

It was frightening how quickly Botan's expression morphed. Her lips curled, her eyes alight with a knowing, mischievous look, "Of course, Hiei. I know for a fact that she can't wait to see that you're all right!" _Or just to see you..._ Botan added silently, snickering on the inside as Hiei turned himself away with a 'hn.'

Kurama just hid a smile, albeit a slightly sad one. He fixed Hiei one last stare, "Are you _sure_ you're alright in going?"

Hiei brushed him aside, entering the hall, "I said I was _fine_." He was just desperate to get a move on and get out of the room. He walked with brisk strides, headed for the living room, turned the corner and-

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei!"

My head snapped up, my heart twisting and sinking. I felt like a deer in the headlights, the way his gaze immediately shot to mine. I instantly scrambled to look away, scared of what I might do if I kept looking at him. Hug him? Cry? I wasn't mentally prepared for this. I stared down at my hands, Hiei's harsh words echoing in my head.

_There is nothing for me here- the Makai is my only home. _

_As far as I'm concerned, the girl can carry on with her life._

So that was it then; that's how he really felt.

I was just the _girl_.

...Again.

Kami, I was such an idiot. It was so easy for me to forget these days that Hiei, even without his ki, was still a _demon_. What had I truly expected out of any of this? From the beginning, Hiei had never even tried to hide how much he despised humans and it shouldn't have hurt me so much as it did because I should've known that. I've always known that.

It wasn't any good to get worked up about it now of all times, that was just stupid.

I could tell Yukina was eyeing me with worry and confusion, but I adamantly kept my head turned. I knew she had wanted to say something ever since I'd come running back into the room a couple of minutes ago, but I had avoided her, keeping up the best poker face that I could muster.

"How are you feeling?" Yukina asked earnestly, and Hiei managed to give her a small smile.

"Better." He muttered, slightly abashed.

Yukina smiled with relief, "I'm so glad. We were all so worried. Weren't we Ren?"

My heart jumped to my throat and I shot up, almost tripping over my yukata. Why did she have to call me out like that?

"Yes!" I coughed, cheeks red, but still not looking directly at Hiei, "I'm glad you're okay..." He didn't say anything back, just kept staring.

Oh Kami, this was awkward. I'd never felt as uncomfortable with Hiei as I did now. What was I supposed to say to him? Not one word came to me.

Finally, he just stuffed his hand in his pockets and turned away, "Hn."

My chest squeezed, and the plastered smile on my face dissolved away. With my head turned, I missed the nearly identical expression on his own face . Yukina frowned deeply, realizing something was truly wrong.

Botan started clapping cheerfully, oblivious, "Now that we're all here, are we ready?"

The others, also as equally unaware of the tension between Hiei and me, all cheered.

We all filed out of the house and started walking towards the river. I walked stiffly beside Hiei who was avoiding looking at me as well.

I was also scared in trying to check on the bond; I felt like I would've been invading. I had never felt so far away from Hiei than right now, and it made me truly sad. What made it worse was that of all ways to spend our last day together, it was going to be spent in silence.

Then it hit me.

This was our _last_ day together. I would never see Hiei again after today.

My knees almost buckled and I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Are you alright?" Hiei suddenly asked.

His voice caught me so off guard, I stumbled and would've fallen flat on my face until I felt a warm grip take hold of me and I was staring straight in Hiei's eyes which I had so desperately avoided. With his deep red eyes, I felt like he was staring straight into my heart and mind. _Oh no..._ _He can't know! _

I snapped away from him with a squeak, "I'm fine!"

He was obviously stung from my brusque push and I inwardly cringed. Fantastic, I had just made it more awkward. He pointedly looked away, looking downright irritated now.

I sighed. If anything at all, I knew I couldn't leave things like this.

"Sorry, you just surprised me Hiei." I offered quietly, "But really... are you truly feeling ok enough to go out like this?"

Hiei growled, "I'm tired of everyone asking that. I said I'm fine!" Right after the words came out, he looked a bit regretful, but I just sighed.

"Sorry." I said.

For a moment, he looked like he actually might say something and my hopes went up, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he closed it again and 'hn'd.'

And we were back to square one.

~.~.~.~.~

Luckily it wasn't super crowded yet, so that was one good thing. I hadn't been to a festival in so long since I was always busy working and I was at a loss of what we could do. It was funny watching Hiei's face though because he obviously also had no idea what was going on.

Kuwabara took in a big breath of fresh air, "It's such a nice day! Bring on the games!"

Yusuke snorted, "You'll be eating those words if you don't watch it. But first, food!"

"Hold your horses Yusuke. There are my parents. Come on, you should come say hi." Keiko pointed, pulling on Yusuke's arm. He waved frantically but there was no chance of freedom from her iron grip.

"Woah woah woah, wait! Keiko!" But resistance was futile and we all watched helplessly as they vanished into the crowd.

"We'll catch up with them later." Botan laughed and turned, spotting a booth that sold all kinds of masks. "Ooh! I want one of those. Oh, but before I forget." She reached into her yukata and pulled out four small coin purses, winking. She tossed one to me, Yukina and kept the last two for herself.

"Now don't go spending it all in one place!" She giggled, "They're gifts from Koenma."

"Hey what about us?" Kuwabara whined. "And why do you get two!"

"One purse ought to be plenty for two! Koenma was kind enough to give us these." She wagged her finger at him. "And I'm saving this last one to give to Keiko!"

"But why do only the girls get to keep them?" Kuwabara fired and Botan just rolled her eyes.

"Because if I gave them to any of the rest of you, the money would be gone before we knew it!" She stuck her tongue out at him.

Yukina giggled, holding the purse up, "Don't worry Kazuma, we're sharing!" He smiled down at her then and reached for her hand.

"Alright then! Let's go Yukina! I'm going to win you the biggest prizes ever, just you wait!" He shouted excitedly and she just laughed out loud, letting him lead her to one of the many games.

I couldn't help laughing out loud at Hiei's face, momentarily forgetting the tension. It had gone completely sour when Kuwabara had run off with Yukina and he shot me a poisonous glare, but I could see through it. I hid my smile after that.

"We can share then." I said to Hiei at which he just rolled his eyes.

"Now, I want to go get a mask!" Botan announced and Kurama and I followed her, Hiei more just tagging along with an exasperated sigh.

"Hey Kurama look, it's you!" Botan pulled over a fox mask, laughing. Kurama smiled, collecting a fox mask for himself and chuckling with her.

I eyed the masks. There were too many, and none really stuck out to me so I turned to Hiei who was also looking at them curiously.

"Are there any you like?" I asked, curious.

I was happy that he didn't just blow me off and was instead looking over the masks until I saw his eyes widen slightly, eyeing something. I turned to the one he was looking at and blinked, then smiled. A dragon mask! Somehow, it suited him perfectly.

I called over the vender and bought the mask before Hiei could say anything. Smiling I held it up to him.

"Here! Put it on!"

He looked at me, horrified, "I don't want to put on that ridiculous thing!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on, don't be a spoil sport. Just put it on." Seeing that he wasn't going to take it, I sighed and went ahead and put it on myself, moving it to the side of my face. I heard chuckling come from behind us to find Botan giggling uncontrollably.

"What?" I asked her, suspicious.

"Did you pick that out for her Hiei?" She laughed and I was surprised when Hiei's face flushed slightly.

"No!"

"My, then it's just meant to be isn't it?" She said, putting on her own mask. I didn't really get what she meant, but it was funny to see Hiei become so flustered. Plus, it was more than welcome since some of the tension had seemed to thaw.

"Well you two have fun now!" Botan said, waving.

Wait, what?

"We'll meet you guys later. We're going to go look around ourselves." Kurama grinned innocently.

I blinked, realizing what they were doing, and I was almost desperate enough to ask them to not leave. They couldn't just leave me _alone_ with Hiei! Not right now!

"Wait, Botan-" I called out, but they were already gone, disappearing into the growing crowd.

And then there were two...

My heart resumed its pounding, suddenly extremely conscious in my yukata while I was alone with Hiei here at the festival- Hiei suddenly growled and grabbed my arm.

"Hey, what's the matter with you-" He began but I freaked out and forced out laughter.

"Haha! What? Oh, smell that? It smells delicious! Let's go find it." I swiveled around, hunting for the nearest booth. Bewildered, Hiei stumbled after me, unable to get out another word.

I spotted a cotton candy booth. _Perfect!_ I paid for two, and eagerly took the two pink fluffy cones in exchange. Hiei was frowning, eyeing the pink cloud in confusion, but prepared to speak, looking serious, but I wasn't about to have any kind of serious conversation with him. Not while I could help it.

Tearing off a pink corner, I took my opportunity and stuffed it right in his open mouth. While I was ridiculously embarrassed, he looked at me with huge eyes of disbelief but a different look came across his face and he closed his mouth around the puff of candy.

I smiled to myself in victory. _Phew._

He swallowed, and I could've sworn his ruby eyes began to sparkle in wonder.

"What... is that?" He asked, clearly overwhelmed. I held one of the cones out to him, smiling.

"It's cotton candy! I thought you'd enjoy it. I also figured you'd never tasted it before. Like it?" I didn't even have to ask. He nodded wordlessly and accepted the cone, all thoughts of asking questions successfully blown away from his mind.

I laughed out loud. It was just too cute.

I popped a piece in my mouth and looked up only to find him staring at me once more. Except this time, there was a tiny smug smile tugging at his lips and I felt my face flush to my roots.

"H-hey, let's go play some games." I said, turning away again to hide my blush, but Hiei stopped me before I completely turned. His eyes shone earnestly and my breath was suddenly sucked away.

"I'm glad you're okay." Was all he said, before he had to look away as well. My face only grew warmer and I got a bad case of fluttering butterflies in my stomach, my heart racing.

_This is really bad..._

Steeling my resolve, I pulled from his grasp, grabbing onto his hand with a smile and pulled him towards a booth where Yusuke and Kuwabara were competing (though with them, it was more fighting) over scooping gold fish.

If this was our last day together, then I was going to make the most of it.

~.~.~.~.~

Before I knew it, the sun had already gone down. Where had the time gone?

Keiko had briefly left to make the quick walk to her house to fetch a couple of blankets to lay out by the river where we could all watch the fireworks. We still had a little bit to wait before them, but we had to be quick to grab the good spots and we were able to situate ourselves right at the top of the small hill, giving us the perfect view over the river and the skyline.

I currently sat on one of the blankets, staring at the small plushy bear Hiei had won in one of the games. I smiled softly, remembering how I had tried and failed to win it myself until Hiei stopped me and won on his first try and had just tossed it over to me without a word . The entire event had been a calamity (at least for the vendor), but hilarious all the same and I was still giggling about it.* The others were chattering away and playing with some sparklers that Kurama had bought for their entertainment.

I had thought it was hilarious how Yukina was practically buried in all the things Kuwabara had won for her, having been too shy to tell him that it was enough. Instead she had just giggled and kissed his cheek, much to Hiei's obvious distaste.

I jumped when a bright light suddenly sparked in my view and looked up to see Hiei holding a sparkler out, typically grimacing.

"Kurama gave this to me, but I don't want it. Here," He said. Smiling, I placed the bear in my lap and took it from him.

Hiei sat down with a groan and I immediately became worried.

"Are you still feeling ok? It's been a long day." I asked him.

He just shot me an exasperated look and waved me off, "I'm fine. I'm just a bit tired."

I frowned, "But you would tell me if it's too much?"

He rolled his eyes, but just nodded, most likely to pacify me. I sighed, waving around the sparkler, growing thoughtful.

"I forgot how much fun festivals could be." I said, "But I'm shocked that you haven't keeled over from sugar shock."

In the span of time we'd been here, Hiei had ingested at least five cones of cotton candy and could probably have had more if we hadn't run out of money.

"Hn."

I laughed and I even eyed a small grin on his face.

We fell into comfortable silence and I went back to just staring at the sparkler, the sounds of our friends fading into the background as my thoughts once more consumed me.

It was getting late... it wouldn't be long now. In maybe only a couple of hours, I'd be...

I swallowed, my heart quivering.

But I had to steel my resolve now more than ever. There was no way I could back out of this- I wouldn't let myself. I was doing this for Hiei.

A pang of hurt swept through me.

_As far as I'm concerned, the girl carry on with her life_ … Hiei's words wouldn't stop coming back to me.

That's right, I reminded myself. No matter how _I _felt, I already knew how he did... my head was greatly hesitant and didn't understand why I was still going to go through with this when he didn't even seem to care. Why was I going to sacrifice myself for a person who had even said out loud that he was perfectly prepared to leave me behind- and why did that have to hurt so much? I should have been used to that by now...

But at the same time... in my heart, suddenly all I could hear were Yukina's words.

_Rejection is always painful..._

I risked a glance at Hiei and froze up.

_But to be able to still feel that despite the pain..._

Hiei was looking straight at me. In the dim light, his eyes looked more like fire than ever, but there was something else. Something else...

_And to give your whole heart without reserve..._

Everything melted away- where we were, our friends, Asami- everything. I vaguely remembered Keiko telling me to look at Hiei's eyes... what was I supposed to be looking for?

"Hiei..." I muttered quietly and took a moment to hear my pummeling heart, "...are you happy?"

The question came without pretense and though it seemed to catch him off guard, I suddenly needed him to answer this question.

"Hn... what kind of question is that?" He replied quickly, but warily, eyeing me suspiciously.

I couldn't help the twitch of my lips that raised my mouth in a tiny smile, and I turned away as casual as possible, "Humor me, and just answer the question."

Hiei fell silent, but instead of answering he just sniffed, "I could think of several things that would make me 'happier', I can tell you that much." He put his arms behind his head and rolled onto his back, closing his eyes.

I chuckled softly. As disheartening as it was, I didn't expect anything else. So I just went on.

Unfaltering, I said quietly, "If you had your powers back...then would you be happy?"

Hiei actually snorted at that question and he replied easily enough, "What do you think? It wouldn't be nearly as aggravating."

"...If none of this had ever happened, would you be happy?" I finally asked, my tone giving away nothing.

There was a rustle beside me as Hiei pulled himself back up, but I couldn't decipher the look he was giving me. His eyes were filled with uncomprehending confusion, his mouth dipped in a serious frown.

"What kind of questions are these?" He demanded.

I just shook my head, chuckling, "They're nothing. I was just thinking out loud is all... But anyways, for what it's worth: whether it matters or not, I just wanted to let you know that _I _was happy. Am happy. And... It's really because of you." I laughed out loud, just reminiscing over every moment.

"Hiei," I said boldly, "You're the most difficult, infuriating, stubborn person I've ever met. I can't count how many times you've made me want to-eh, well, you've definitely made me angry. And-" I abruptly stopped talking before I got too carried when I spotted the look on his face. I hid a smile.

"_But_," I emphasized, "At the same time, you've truly turned my world upside down, for the better really, and I can't imagine never having met you. So, thank you for everything. I'll never forget any of it, and I hope, maybe... you won't forget me too… when you do end up going back to the Makai."

Hiei was stayed silent, semi-stunned and semi-concerned, but he finally started, reaching out.

"Ren, what-"

But just then, there was a colorful flash and we both turned to look for just at that moment, we realized that the crowd had gone silent and a high shriek pierced the air as a burst of light was shot into the sky. It flew up, up, up for several seconds and then-

People cheered as the black sky seemed to burst apart with brilliant color, illuminating the night and bathing everything in spectacular color. The firework shimmered like a flower before it died, but was immediately followed by wave after wave of fantastic displays. It was like the sky was on fire; it was beautiful.

"Ren," I was pulled from the wondrous display when my hand was suddenly taken and I was pulled to look Hiei straight in the face. I had avoided looking at him straight in the eye ever since yesterday and my first instinct was to run away, but he held fast. My stomach dropped at the sheer intensity of his gaze.

"Ren, I won't let anything happen to you. You have my absolute word- I'll protect you with my life."

I couldn't move or think or breathe- I just sat there, staring, completely stunned. Under the vibrant light, I saw him in a new light. It hit me so suddenly without reason, but it did and I knew.

Hiei... Hiei had become my whole world. If I couldn't do anything else, then at least I could do this for him because...

There was something even more beautiful, I realized, and as the sky continued to paint flowers of fire, every doubt became clear and I couldn't deny it a second longer.

I was so thankful- so happy- for everything because I was in love with Hiei.

It was true, total, and terribly painful but ... I was in **love**with him.

Yukina was right. I couldn't help the way Hiei felt, but even now it couldn't change the way I did. And in this moment, together with him under this sky of fire, I was genuinely happy. Tears came to my eyes so fast that I didn't even have a chance to suppress them. Obviously not expecting any waterworks, Hiei's eyes widened and he looked momentarily panicked which just made me smile.

He may have said that he didn't care what happened to me after all this was over, but regardless... it couldn't have just been my imagination because right now, in our moments together like this... we didn't just feel like friends. There was something more, something deeper... but I guess with Hiei, I might never be able to tell. And with what was going to happen later tonight... well, all that was left for me to do would be to tell him, wouldn't it? But…

My heart twisted... I just couldn't.

I couldn't bring myself to do it because in the end it would just bring more unnecessary pain. Right now, this was enough.

I don't know what came over me, but before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed onto him and was leaning forward and he just stayed there, silent. He wasn't moving closer, but he wasn't moving to stop me either. Even now, when we were this close, I couldn't read the look in his eyes...

At the last moment, I moved my head to the side and rested my lips softly against his cheek.

_Hiei...I love you. _

I was never more grateful at how weak Hiei was as we could not seem to really feel each other's thoughts through the bond like normal, even though we were right next to each other. That may change soon enough after tonight though...

The background seemed to be slowly coming back all around us and I pulled away sadly. I almost laughed at his wide-eyed surprise. I opened my mouth to apologize and maybe joke it off, but my voice immediately died in my throat.

Behind Hiei and a little bit a ways, there he was, just standing there and looking straight at me.

Ryuu..._No,_ I inwardly corrected with a sinking heart, _Tatsuya. _

Catching his eye, he gave me a nod and just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished.

It was time.

Reality hit me hard and it took everything I had in me to keep a straight face and even smile despite Hiei's bewilderment. I let him go, casually standing up and dusting off my yukata and not looking at him for the nth time that day.

"Well, if you'll excuse me." I quipped, "Nature is calling. I'm going to go ask Keiko if we can go to her house so I can use the bathroom." I only hoped this reason was dumb enough to be believable. Hiei slowly nodded, still apparently processing my kiss on his cheek. I couldn't help the tender smile that grew, but I made a show of going over to Keiko and apologizing as I asked if she could come with me so I could use her bathroom.

Keiko was happy enough to come and Botan even said she'd join us because she had to go as well which worked for the better because everybody was more relaxed with the knowledge that we wouldn't be alone and we would be only minutes away. _Little did they know, _I thought bitterly.

"We'll be right back," I almost panicked when my voice cracked a little, but, thankfully, no one noticed.

I did a quick wave to everyone, but while I wore a smile on the outside, on the inside, I really wanted to cry. I would never see any of their faces again, so if this was it, I wanted to lodge this memory forever, which wasn't much longer for me. Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina, but of course I let my gaze land on Hiei last. He hadn't said anything else and was still just staring and his face was tight, and I could tell that he was suspicious. Of course he was, I inwardly sighed, but all I had to do was get out of sight and away from them before he said something out loud.

As Botan and Keiko chatted away, I kept shooting glances over my shoulder, watching the others slowly disappear out of sight. The group continued to chat and laugh away, unaware, and even Hiei slowly turned back around.

...and that was it. I would never see him again.

I had to keep reminding myself that if there was any way to repay him for everything he's done for me, this was the only way that I could possibly make up for all the trouble I'd ever caused him.

Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back with a deep breath and made myself turn forward. I had made my decision. There was no turning back.

And just like that, I turned my back for good against everything I ever loved as the fireworks obliviously continued to paint the night sky behind us.

~.~.~.~.~

"Hey Keiko, thank you, again, for all this." I must've said for the fifth time. I really needed to shut up before Keiko figured out something was wrong, but thankfully she just laughed and told me to stop because I was making her blush.

It was impossible to not say anything, but I had to hold my tongue. As soon as I was out of sight, I would have to act fast.

Botan came down the stairs, readjusting her yukata and winked at me.

"Alright, you're free to use the bathroom now! I'm sorry it took so long, these outfits are just so difficult to get in and out of quickly." She said. In a way, it just worked out better for me that way because it would buy me more time.

"We'll be waiting for you here," Keiko patted my shoulder and I nodded with a smile and headed for the stairs. Except, instead of going to the bathroom, I went straight into my room, and locked the door behind me.

Now I had to move fast. I stripped out of the yukata as quickly and gently as possible, unable to help laying it out as nicely as I could and eyeing it with regretful longing but ultimately letting it go. I finished changing and took a deep breath. A breeze rustled my hair and I turned curiously towards the window. I had to clamp my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming.

Tatsuya was perched against the window, quietly waiting for me.

I was already this jumpy and he had almost completely given me away. My blood boiled just looking at him.

"Have you been there this whole time?" I hissed, disliking each step I took towards him.

Now right in front of him, I was surprised by his expression- if I knew any better, I'd almost say he looked a little sad, but I was _not_ about to let myself feel _anything_ for this guy. He shook his head.

"No... Now come on," Without warning, I was suddenly grabbed from the waist and I muffled a squeal as Tatsuya leapt down from the second story window; we landed gently on the ground, but I shoved him off as soon as I had two feet planted firmly on the ground.

"A little warning next time?" I seethed, wrapping my jacket around me.

Tatsuya shrugged and turned to leave. However, when he realized I wasn't following right after him, he paused to glance back.

I couldn't help it; I just stared at Keiko's house. I could even hear Keiko and Botan innocently chattering away. I hope that they wouldn't feel guilty about me, I thought sadly, my heart sinking.

"Do you need a moment?" Tatsuya's voice cut into the silence and I roughly brushed away a few tears, shaking my head and abruptly turning around to join him.

"No...Let's just go."

~.~.~.~.~

The farther we walked the more nervous and nauseous I became. Had they noticed by now? When they did, as soon as they got to the others, everyone would definitely come to stop me, but there was no way that I was going to let Hiei die now. I would do anything I could to save him. Also, I couldn't tell for sure, but this might've been the farthest Hiei and I had ever been separated which meant that the bond could restrain me any moment, and then they'd definitely find out. My heart couldn't stop racing, my entire body trembling. But right now, more than anything, I was scared.

As soon as the park came into view, I let go of a shuddery breath. Tatsuya had remained silent up to this point, but now he decided to speak.

"Are you...alright?" He asked carefully. I shot him a dirty look.

Was he serious? I was about to lose my _soul_ and never see the people I loved again and he wanted to know if I was alright? I didn't answer him for a few moments.

"...Could you stop looking like that?" I finally asked, glancing at him.

He was confused, "Why?"

Deeply unsettled and bothered that I was, well, bothered, I avoided his gaze, "You're not Ryuu- you're Tatsuya. When you look like that, it's just a reminder to how dumb I was to ever trust you."

Tatsuya seemed to deflate slightly and he hesitated, as if he was internally struggling with himself until he finally said, "I can't. I'm only able to suppress my energy when I take this form."

"Oh." I said lamely and we continued walking. We were in the park now and I figured exactly where we were headed; it wouldn't be far now-

"But... my name _is_ Ryuu ."

"What?" I almost ran into him, he'd stopped walking so abruptly. He turned to look straight at me.

"Before I met Asami and I became 'Tatsuya'..." He paused, and then turned back, walking again, "I was once 'Ryuu.'"

Realizing I was just standing there now, I scrambled to catch up. I didn't know what to say to him, but the wheels in my head had begun to turn now. _Before he had been 'Tatsuya'..._It hadn't even occurred to me that there could've been a before. What kind of person had he been then? _Who_ had he been? And why did he change?

All the times that I'd been stricken with how genuine he'd become with me suddenly came back to me and though I didn't want to feel sorry for him at all I could only wonder what kind of story Tatsuya had. Even now, he seemed different: more 'Ryuu' then the Tatsuya that had tried to blow me from kingdom come the first time we met.

However, I had no time to continue pondering over it because we had arrived. As always, there was the fountain, the water glistening under the moonlight. A wry smile came to my face as I was abruptly reminded of the story of the Siren I'd once told Hiei . I was basically sacrificing my life for Hiei right now, but I couldn't help the sudden snort that flew from my mouth. Hiei would definitely have a conniption of some sort if I ever even tried telling him that we were playing out a tragic love story. But the smile was instantly wiped from my face as soon as I saw them.

Asami was already there. She looked majestic in her flowing robes and quite happy, actually. Just behind her, a black hole identical to the one we'd used to enter her dimension before, loomed open and hungry. And beside it stood her entourage minus one. Minoru, face straight and unrelenting, Kuro, his scythe typically leaned over his shoulder, Aya, fangs bared, and perched on Itsuki's shoulder who just looked concerned. Shiro was nowhere in sight, but that didn't bring me any comfort.

I clenched my hands by my side. We were finally here. All these months, from that first moment at school, who'd imagine that it was to end like this? But in the end, I don't think I regretted any of it. Or at least I'm grateful that I got to meet and know Hiei. I closed my eyes, relishing the breeze on my face and the sound of the fountain and trees.

"Ryuu..." I said.

Tatsuya stumbled, whirling around in surprise, eyes wide.

I held my ground, "If any of that time we spent together was even the slightest bit real, could you do one thing for me? If you ever see Hiei again, please, just... tell him I'm sorry."

I opened my eyes, a new determination blazing and walked straight past him. Tatsuya, still wide-eyed just watched me hopelessly as I walked by, but I stared straight ahead, eyes locked on Asami. I wasn't going to break down right now. Right now, in this moment of truth, I was going to be strong for once. For myself. Hiei would want me to.

I stopped before Asami and waited.

She swept her arms out as if waiting for an embrace, "Come here my darling,"

I didn't move. Keeping a calm expression, I said coldly, "I'm ready to carry out my part of the deal, but there's no way I'm doing anything without knowing that you did your part too."

Asami's expression twitched and she lowered her arms. The ghost of a frown swept across her face, but she just sighed and held out her hand. A familiar thrumming red orb grew and my breath hitched.

_I'm so close Hiei... just wait a second longer._

Asami held out her free hand, "As I've said, you have my word. Your beloved's ki will be returned the moment you're truly mine. Now come." It was no longer a suggestion.

_Goodbye Hiei... you had to know somewhere deep down, that I want you to live. Be happy._

I reached out, stepping forward-

And stopped dead in my tracks.

My blood turned to ice.

_No no no... Not now!_

I literally could not take another step, for as I peered down my arm, the bond glowed bright gold.

~.~.~.~.~

Hiei would later kick himself for not saying anything as soon as he felt suspicious, but he felt it before he actually saw it. While usually he'd feel a slight tingle, this time it came more as a shock since it had been so long since he'd seen it.

_The bond_.

And there it was in all its physical glory, glowing brightly and thrumming with energy, and signifying that Ren had moved the farthest she could away from him. And something dark and foreboding seized him in that same instant. Keiko's house was closer to the river than even Kuwabara's was so it should not have even been close to exceeding the bond's limit. What-

"_Yusuke!_"

The others had _just _noticed the bond and as Hiei was in the motion of standing up, horror already beginning to dawn on him, Keiko and Botan came sprinting into view. Tears were running down Keiko's cheeks while Botan was in pure hysterics, but all Hiei could seem to comprehend was the very prominent lack of _Ren._

"Keiko!" Yusuke exclaimed, running over to meet her. He grasped her shoulders tightly, looking between her and Botan.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Kuwabara asked as Yukina reached for his hand, searching for comfort.

"The door, her clothes- the window- she-" Keiko was so stressed she could barely form a full sentence.

Hiei couldn't take it any longer and would've yanked her shoulders if Yusuke weren't already holding her and straight out demanded the only thought that clouded his mind, "_Where is Ren?"_

"She's missing!" Botan cried, "Her room was locked, but when we finally opened it her yukata was there and the window was open and- there's no telling how long she's been gone!"

Ren's funny mood was starting to make a lot of sense. Hiei cursed harshly. What was going on? How could she ever expect him to trust her ever again after this? Something must've been happening right now and here they were still standing around! There was no time to lose.

~.~.~.~.~

Asami raised a smooth brow, eyeing the bond.

"What's this? Aya," She muttered and a moment later I suddenly felt two hands on my shoulders that were shoving me down onto my knees. I cried out in surprise and lifted my head just in time to see Aya leaning over me with a feral hiss. Asami slowly approached the bond, moving her hands to barely hover over it.

"Hmm... interesting." She said quietly to herself, "This reeks of Koenma. It appears that whatever this is, it's keeping you connected to another. I've never seen such a strong manifestation of interwoven energy. I recognize this other's energy as well..."

Asami's gaze slithered to meet mine knowingly and my stomach churned sickly. What was she planning to do? Judging by her gaze, clearly nothing good.

"Kuro," Asami called behind her, "Cut it."

Kuro grinned slyly, swinging his scythe around his shoulder, "With pleasure."

I hadn't thought of something like this. True panic began to race through my veins.

"Wait, you can't!" I cried, "You can't break it! We've already tried."

"Why not?" Asami replied easily, "Kuro's scythe can cut through space, why shouldn't it be able to cut through energy as well? Besides, I won't be able to extract your soul while it's tethered to another's."

_What?_

And then something very inhuman and dark descended over Asami's eyes which shook me to the core.

"And if that doesn't work, then we'll just have to cut your arm off." She had said it sweetly, but her words ignited pure terror within me. Asami waved Kuro forward.

Kuro stopped right next to my outstretched arm and swung his scythe up in preparation. It flashed sharply in the white light, looming menacingly closer and closer.

I desperately tried to back away, but Aya's grip held me like iron.

"No, wait- please!" I whimpered, but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

The blade swooped down on the golden cord.

"_NO!_ _Hiei-"_

My voice cut off instantly as an explosive, acute pain unlike any other erupted everywhere inside of me. It twisted and writhed inside my body as if a physical part of myself had just been ripped out, leaving a gaping hole.

I eagerly welcomed the numbing darkness.

~.~.~.~.~

Like a rag doll, Ren's body slumped in Aya's grasp. Sniffing with distaste, Aya dumped her body and wiped her hands, ignoring Asami's mild glare.

The bond had snapped perfectly under Kuro's blade. Ren had blacked out almost instantly. Tatsuya initially reached out for her, but had to stop himself from rushing over as Asami was still looking over her, eyes slanted in interest.

Finally, Asami turned away, "Her soul should be unharmed. Tatsuya, retrieve her." She ordered and Tatsuya didn't waste a moment in dropping by her side and gingerly picking her up. Her face had gone deathly white and her limp form felt so broken in his arms that it was only the timid beat of her heart that reminded him that she was still alive.

Asami, smiling again, glanced at the red orb that still glistened and buzzed in her hands and sighed lightly. Before she could do anything though, Minoru stepped forward, a protest on his lips.

"Let's not be rash my Lady. Before you return the fire demon's ki, we should consider this. We have the girl; if we keep the energy, that's one less enemy to worry about. We can use it-"

Asami's hand whipped out so suddenly and powerfully that Minoru had no chance to recoil. Her nails raked across his face and her electric blue eyes flashed darkly.

"How _dare_ you suggest something like that. I will not allow myself to sink to the same level as a lowly demon or human; I do not go back on my word. We already have a clear advantage regardless and Koenma's 'saviors' don't stand a chance."

And with that, she gently guided her hand in the air and the red orb was gone in a flash.

She turned to Tatsuya, "Now, our work here is done. It's finally time for our true operation to begin."

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei!"

Hiei barely heard Kurama or any of the other's voices as he lay doubled-over from the mind-blowing pain. He was by no means a stranger to pain, but he'd never felt _anything_ so deep and wrenching like this before and it took all the strength and will-power he could muster to not just keel over and black out.

Amidst the pain, Kurama had caught him before he could completely turn over, but Kurama's shocked gasp caught his immediate attention.

"Hiei... the bond!"

Hiei instantly looked at his arm. Before his eyes, the golden light began to fade, but not as it normally would. It was literally dissolving into a string of particles until it completely dispersed as if it had never even existed to begin with.

Never had Hiei felt so free- and suddenly so empty and hollow.

"What just happened Hiei?" Kuwabara asked.

"... Ren..." Hiei grit out, but then he gasped sharply and his eyes flew open wide, the initial pain almost vanishing immediately as it was replaced by-

"Hiei!" Kurama gasped, letting him go as soon as he felt it, "You're-"

Then Hiei's heart came to an abrupt stop.

And stayed stopped. **

He could _feel_ the energy coursing throughout him, weakly at first, but steadily growing into a roaring river. It was nearly overwhelming: such pain followed by so much power. It was coming all back at once: his strength, as his feet took a stronger stance on the ground beneath him, his senses, as the smells and sounds of the festival that had been so dull before now flowed acutely around him, and his spiritual awareness of all the different energies surrounding them; there was a strong tingling behind his third eye as well and he stared at his arm in disbelief as the incredibly familiar black tattoo of his dragon technique seemed to soak back into his skin as if sensing the fresh power rushing beneath it and welcoming itself back home.

For the first time in months, he felt back home in his own skin, but there was no rush of joy or relief...only growing horror.

Everything about this was _wrong_.

"What the hell's going on?" Yusuke yelled, but Hiei tuned him out. Only one thing mattered at that moment.

Without a second's hesitation and before someone could stop him, Hiei took off and in the next moment, he was back to easily leaping over tree tops. However, his own agility had become alien to him and he stumbled with his footing and fell, but he was right back up again and moving.

Without the bond to find her right away, there was only one place that she could've gone and if she wasn't there...

Hiei grit his teeth, urging his legs to go faster.

_Ren... what have you done?_

~.~.~.~.~

"_Asami!_"

Tatsuya was only steps away from the doorway when he heard him. Shocked, he whirled around, but Asami barely flinched, slowly turning around.

Hiei had felt their power before he'd even spotted them and landed abruptly on the ground in the clearing. However, he'd gone too fast and his legs were so weak due to lack of use that they buckled as soon as he hit the ground and he came crashing down, sliding roughly across the ground.

"What's wrong Hiei? Are you so in love that you're weak at the knees?" Asami smirked, staring down at the pitiful figure.

Hiei growled fiercely, picking himself up. He stopped dead though as soon as his eyes landed on Ren's wilted form tucked in between the arms of-

The rage came fast and furious as realization hit him, "_You_..."

Tatsuya looked away, unable to meet the fire demon's eyes.

Hiei could barely stay still; his body was trembling with rage, "Drop her _now_."

Asami glared, sweeping an arm out and separating him from Tatsuya, "I'm sorry but we made a deal."

"A deal?" Hiei repeated angrily.

"One life for another; your ki for her soul. I'm only collecting my end of the bargain. It's time to say your goodbyes."

Dread filled Hiei, but he didn't let it show, "Over my dead body!"

Asami almost giggled, "Oh dear. Are you really so eager to lose what you just regained? And it was for such a price too. But as much as I'd like to stay and kill you, I don't have the time. If we have the pleasure of meeting again in the future, I'll be sure to not hold back. Until then,"

Asami tipped her head slightly with a smile, and turned to walk through the black hole followed a second later after a brief moment of hesitation on Tatsuya's part.

"_No!_" Hiei threw himself at them, but it was too late. His fingertips brushed air as the hole swallowed them, leaving no hint that they had ever even been there.

They were gone.

* * *

><p>*Could be a cute little bonus chapter in my omake story :D But only if you guys want! So let me know in a review!<p>

** I don't know if anyone remembers, but there was one chapter where I made Hiei's heart beat and someone pointed out that in the anime they clearly state that their heart's don't beat as demons and I knew that even while writing it, and it really bothered me that I wasn't sticking to canon, so I know it's a bit of a stretch, but I'm basically deciding that what happened was that a demon's heart is there more like an emergency generator, it operates to keep them alive if their bodies reach a point of great weakness or vulnerability. And since Hiei got his ki back, his heart didn't have to work for him anymore, so it's stopped! I don't know if anyone actually cares, but personally I feel a lot better about it XD

Welp, I've been gone for a little bit. I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THAT ;A;

I finished the chapter, then my beta was really busy with school, and I was really busy (*AM ...OTL) and I really just couldn't find any time to fix this up. But now I am in my last two weeks and maybe I'll get a chapter out then because I will be FREAKING DONE WITH MY FRESHMAN YEAR WHOOP!

Sooo much has happened this year, it's crazy O_O But thank you all so much for continuing to stick with me, and although it is true we are nearing our climax in this story, I can tell you now that it still may be a couple of months (...ormore...) before we're done XD (So I hope your lovely faces will stick around to the very end :3 And I'll still have my Omake story after that, "The Rest of Our Days & All Those in Between" (Which BTW if you haven't checked it out yet, is on my profile page so check it out nao B3)

I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Personally, I loved it XD Does that make me sounds arrogant... It's okay that I fangirl over my own fic, right?! LOL

Thank you thank you thank you for all your reviews AS ALWAYS too. I don't think I could ever thank you guys enough :3 So please continue! I'm not lying the slightest when I say they legitimately make my day.

As always and forever:

Love, InuChimera7410


	26. Our Longest Day: Part I

Omg, you guys. OMG. I could seriously cry.

I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I received some of the best review responses I have ever had with the last chapter so I have nothing else to say except thank you so much ;A; Seriously, I love you all.

Except, now I feel like the bar's been raised so I'm definitely feeling pressure XD I hope all the upcoming chapters can continue to reach at least par with y'alls expectations and that I don't disappoint! :)

Well... all that's left to say is, welcome to the beginning of the end.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 26 - Our Longest Day, Part I<p>

"Damn it!"

The sound of Hiei's fist pounding the ground echoed in the clearing, the water from the Siren's fountain continuing to noisily run on in the distance as if Ren hadn't been taken before his eyes.

_A life for life. _

What good were his powers if he couldn't even use them? What good was his life if he couldn't even protect hers?

Things were happening too fast for him to handle. He felt physically ill and it was only the consistent pounding of his fist's impact on the ground that was keeping him from becoming overwhelmed with blinding rage that was clouding his vision red.

It had been too long since he'd had his powers and he could hardly admit to himself that he didn't have complete control over it. He hadn't sensed it right away in the initial rush of adrenaline but he could now feel the Jagan trying to open on its own as it reacted to the extreme fluctuation of energy in his body. Even the dragon, recently returned on his arm, felt like it was twisting around, restless.

"Damn it! Damn it! _Damn it!_" Rocks flew, small shards cutting into his knuckles but Hiei couldn't even feel the pain.

Slowly and shakily, he picked himself up and gazed at his pummeled hand. Almost no damage and no blood; the skin around his knuckles had only begun to barely redden. It was unreal. His powers had truly been returned. Yet...

"Hiei!"

Hiei twisted towards the sound of his name only to see Kurama and the others racing up to him and sliding to a stop. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama were anxious and the girls that trailed behind them were completely sick with worry.

"Hiei, what the hell is going on?" Yusuke yelled, angry and confused. Hiei had left immediately and without a word, so his reaction wasn't unexpected.

However, Hiei looked down unable to meet their uneasy gazes. Sickening feelings of shame, guilt, and raw anger churned inside him.

"She's been taken." He gazed at the spot where Ren had been only moments before, in the claws of that human _rat,_ with her captors and he unconsciously let out a savage growl.

"Hiei, what exactly happened? How did the bond dissolve, and your ki...?" Kurama demanded firmly.

Hiei turned the brief encounter over in his mind. Asami's words once again resonated in his head: _a life for a life..._

He clenched his hand, shutting his eyes, "Asami's captured Ren. A life for a life... those were Asami's exact words. Ren came to meet her willingly; sometime between when Yukina and Botan were taken and now, she must've made some kind of bargain with Asami: a trade. In exchange for Ren's soul, she restored my power."

No more secrets, they had agreed. She had _promised _him. In the end though, had she just not believed in him to protect her?

"Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me! What the hell was she thinking?" Yusuke yelled, huffing.

Botan wrapped a comforting arm around Keiko who had buried her head in her hands, "This is all our fault! If only we had kept her in our sight!"

Kurama shook his head, "No, Keiko. Ren clearly had already made her decision and neither you nor Botan are at fault for it; no one knew and thus no one is to blame." He glanced at Hiei, frowning deeply, "I don't mean that lightly Hiei."

Hiei was practically trembling in rage, "She swore to me that there would be no more secrets, but right after, she goes and does _this?_"

Yukina held her hands together, gazing at Hiei with sad eyes, "But Hiei, if what you say is true... you must at least understand why she did it then, don't you?"

Hiei visibly disheartened. Having it said out loud was worse than anything. He _did_ know. Of course he knew.

She had done it for him; _sacrificed _her life for _his. _Of course that's why she hadn't told him anything, it wasn't hard to guess. He knew that... but that didn't make him any less pissed.

Just... how _dare _she!

Had she actually assumed that her very _soul_ was anything near the worth of his? Who did she think she was to determine that?

The value of her life was far more precious than his.

"Regardless, it explains the return of your ki, but what about the bond?" Kurama asked.

Hiei touched his arm, "Broken."

At the beginning, he had felt like a prisoner to the bond; it had been but another chain keeping him shackled to this wretched world, but over the course of time and without even realizing it, it had become something else entirely. It had become a connection. One that had inevitably become so deeply rooted that he felt virtually hollow with it gone. The extreme pain of the sudden separation was still fresh in his mind; it had felt nothing short of having a piece of himself literally being ripped out from inside. Being honest with himself, Hiei'd actually forgotten how it had even felt like to _not_ have the bond between himself and Ren. Now, it just felt wrong without her steady presence.

Kuwabara couldn't wrap his mind around it, "But how is that possible? Not even Koenma could take it off! How did they just break it?"

"It wasn't just broken, it was severed in two." Hiei paused, "Just before it was cut, it almost felt like I was there for the briefest moment. I essentially felt everything she did. It was surreal. I could _feel_ her terror. I saw what she saw, in flashes. I even heard her... She was held down just before Kuro cut straight through it with that scythe of his like it was nothing."

"That's insane..." Yusuke breathed in disbelief.

"You said that she made a deal for her soul right? I still don't understand. Why does Asami even want her soul in the first place? I know there's the whole deal of calling Ren 'her daughter' but why would she go so far as to want her soul? What could she be thinking?"

Hiei was beginning to lose patience quickly, "What does it even matter? Our top priority is getting her back before she- ugh!" An unexpected wave of intense pain and dizziness rocked his body and his knees buckled. Being the closest, Yukina and Kurama kneeled down beside him.

"Hiei! What's wrong?" she cried fearfully, but Kurama had already guessed.

"Hiei, you need to slow down. Your body is in a sensitive state right now; right now it's unable to handle the variation of your energy flow. Between having the bond cut and having all your demonic ki returning at once, you can only take so much. Don't overwhelm yourself."

Hiei grunted, struggling to pick himself up. Yukina made to grab his arm.

"Wait Hiei, you need rest!"

With a fierce growl, Hiei harshly struck her hand away, "I've done enough resting!"

Botan covered a gasp, but she was hardly the only one who was shocked by Hiei's action. None of them, not even Kurama who had known him the longest and had seen some truly dark sides of his friend, had ever seen Hiei even remotely lash out at Yukina, as harmless as it was. He was truly upset.

Hiei moved his gaze away from her, slightly ashamed, "Sorry."

Yukina's eyes shone with hurt but also with understanding, and she moved her hands away and didn't try to touch him or say anything else.

Kurama took a breath. Everything was falling to pieces, but now was not appropriate for new, unnecessary problems. They didn't have the time to waste on a futile argument with Hiei so without pressing the subject further, Kurama resigned.

"If you insist, Hiei. That aside, our next course of action obviously requires infiltrating Asami's dimension. The only question is how exactly we are supposed to do that."

"Why don't we just do it like how we got there the first time?" Kuwabara suggested.

Hiei glanced at him suspiciously, "What, you're actually willing to help us this time and not throw another fit about not trusting her again?"

Kuwabara was taken aback and became defensive, "Hey! You can't hold that over my head... Last time we didn't know if we could trust her or not and Yukina and Botan were in danger and all the fingers were pointing at her so cut me some slack! I was wrong about her... but this is different. She sacrificed herself to save your life and now she's in real trouble and I fully intend to help save her, so don't doubt me again shorty! Plus, I also have a debt to repay her; she saved my life too after all."

Hiei quietly gauged his words, but sensing no untruth in his words just grunted and backed off, returning to the issue at hand, "Hn. Anyways, we were only able to make it there through that mirror that Minoru gave her. I don't remember ever seeing Ren with it after that."

"Maybe it's still in the same spot then?" Yusuke wondered.

"Well let's just not stand here then!" Botan exclaimed, "Let's go look for it. We obviously have no other ideas."

"It could be worth a shot." Kurama mused.

Frustrated as he was with their lack of progress, Hiei knew she was speaking the truth. They really did have no clue and he had to admit that they were low on actual options the way things were now, so if this really was all they could do at the moment, there wasn't a moment to lose. He nodded in agreement.

"Hn, let's go."

~.~.~.~.~

"This was the spot, I'm sure of it!" Yusuke called out, waving them over.

"We'd have better chances of finding it if we search separately." Hiei said. They all nodded and spread around in different directions, scavenging for the lost mirror.

Hiei searched alongside Kuwabara as they concentrated on skirting through the grassy foliage and around several trees that lined the edge of the walkway. Hiei had never truly appreciated how keen his enhanced eyes were; without them, he might as well have been blind. After all, it was his eyes that were one of the true keys behind his deadly accurate skills and technique, and with their aide, it didn't take long to catch the glint of a shiny object that had been covered underneath some dirt. He easily plucked out a reflective chunk of glass about the size of his hand. Only, it was just half a circle.

"Well shit." Yusuke's voice easily carried from where he stood and Hiei turned to see him holding an identical piece.

Noticing the mirror had been found, the others were quick to regroup only to find that it had snapped perfectly in two.

"Just great, I think it's safe to say that this hunk of junk is pretty much useless." Yusuke sighed. Hiei took the other half of the mirror and aligned the two pieces together, but whatever powers it had held before were no longer there; in his hands, he only held a shattered piece of glass. He clenched them in frustration.

"Damn it." Hiei cursed, "We're just back to where we started, which was nowhere."

"Ok, how about this then." Botan said, "Maybe we're thinking about it the wrong way."

Hiei glanced at her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, how are the portals into Asami's dimension made in the first place?"

"Well for one thing, through the mirror." Kuwabara said, pointing.

"And with Kuro's scythe..." Hiei thought out loud, recalling the several times he'd personally watched the shadow demon easily rip through space with his enormous blade before their eyes.

"So maybe the key to all this is figuring out what actually gives them the power to cut space. Maybe this is some kind of special glass that makes it happen!" Yusuke said.

Kurama pondered over the thought, "I suppose, however likely, that it _could_ be possible."

Hiei frowned. The idea was farfetched and stupid. Normally he might've immediately shot the idea down, but their lack direction right now didn't leave them many options to begin with. Though it wasn't much, the only comfort he took was in the fact that Kurama hadn't discarded the idea which left the possibility.

Kurama raised a red eyebrow skeptically, "What made you figure that Yusuke?"

Yusuke shrugged with a small, slightly bashful smile, "I, uh, was just thinking of what you might say."

Kurama managed a small chuckle, shaking his head, "Why doesn't that surprise me."

"In any case," Hiei said, "our best bet would be to head over to the Spirit World then. Koenma would be the best to ask, to see if he knows anything that we can use and also to let him know what's happened." He just wanted to get on the move. Without thinking, he kept catching himself trying to reach out with his mind to see if he could feel Ren, but every time, of course, he would reach out and feel nothing. It was maddening.

"Calm down Hiei." Kurama stipulated firmly, "Without even needing words to come out of your mouth, I can _feel _your anger."

Hiei growled, "I'm sorry Kurama, but how exactly do you expect me to remain _calm _about any of this? "

"I understand what you're feeling, but if you won't rest, you need to at least keep your cool; your ki is swirling out of control. Getting angry will do nothing to help Ren. We need to remain rational if we're to have any hope of saving her and stopping Asami." Kurama explained calmly.

"From whatever it is she even really wants." Kuwabara added helpfully. Hiei shot him a glare.

"Also, remember that flow of time was much different in that dimension than here. If it's consistent, time should still be slower in that dimension. We have some time." Kurama said.

"Asami said three days, Kurama. It's only been two, at least here. How are we supposed to know if time there is consistent at all?" Yusuke countered.

"We don't. Which is why we have no time to lose." Hiei said impatiently.

They shared a nod.

"Keiko, I want you to go straight home and stay there. I don't want you wandering about by yourself until this whole thing is over." Yusuke said. Keiko's eyes were still watery and filled with worry but she didn't argue. Kuwabara looked at his own loved one.

"Yukina, you too. I want you to go with Keiko and stay with her for now." Kuwabara said.

"But Kazuma-" Yukina was about to protest but looking between Kuwabara and then Hiei, who for once and for one time only would be on Kuwabara's side if need be, she knew there was no point in arguing and instead turned to Keiko.

"Will that be alright Keiko?" She asked.

"Of course." Keiko said.

Botan pointed at herself, a fickle expression crossing her face, "Hey! What about me?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "What do you think? Get your ass in gear Botan, we're headed to Spirit World!"

"Oh right. Yes," Botan knocked her fist against her head with an embarrassed chuckle and held out her hand, her trusty oar already beginning to materialize out of thin air.

"Right then, let's go." Kurama said.

Hiei nodded with conviction. No matter what it took, he was getting to that dimension one way or another, and then he would make Asami pay. Especially that despicable Tatsuya too... once he got his hands on him, he'd wish he'd never been born. If he so much as hurt one hair on her head- Hiei had to stop the thought. As much as he hated to admit it, Kurama was right; he needed to keep control which was a struggle enough as it was and this was not helping.

Hiei cast his eyes on the night sky, traces of stray fireworks still blossoming in the distance. A testament of what had been a good night turned tragic before it was lost.

He clenched his fist.

_She better be safe._

~.~.~.~.~

"_WHAT _happened_?_" Koenma screamed, reports flying in every direction as he threw his arms up in the air, much to George's dismay. The blue ogre crawled pitifully across the floor in a sad attempt to scramble up and salvage all he could as Koenma stood panicked and alarmed in his seat.

"Are you deaf? Like I just said-" Yusuke didn't have a chance as he was whapped in the face as Koenma chunked a heavy stamp at him. He cried out in pain and stumbled backwards as Koenma went ballistic.

"I _heard_ what you just said, moron!" Koenma sunk into the depths of his chair in utter despair, hands clenched over his head. "This is a _disaster._ What are we going to do?!"

"Go after them, what do you think?" Hiei reproached, his red eyes sparking with intolerant fury.

"Is that the only thing we can do?" Koenma wailed. "What do you think we have been trying to do up till now? We're so screwed."

Hiei would've torn the toddler apart by now if not for their predicament. Besides, Kurama was getting on his nerves with his constant scolding and he didn't want to give him another good excuse to needlessly berate him so he held his tongue and instead used reason to counter.

"We don't have the freedom to pick from many alternatives! With all we've learned and with what we know, we have good reason to believe that whatever Asami's true purposes are, they're directly linked to Ren. When she was taken, Asami specifically used the word _soul_ when telling me of what Ren had agreed to. My ki for Ren's soul. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't think of many good things that she could possibly want to use it for. It's crucial that we get to Ren, as soon as possible. Your useless wailing doesn't solve anything. All we need to know, despite everything else, is that we need to save her, end of story, and that requires infiltrating their dimension once again. So if you're going to be helpful, sit down, be a good boy and _do _something." Hiei exclaimed, promptly shutting Koenma up.

Yusuke and Kuwabara's jaws had dropped. Botan's eyes shone with awe. Even Kurama was impressed. Never would he have expected Hiei to, instead of using his usual tactic of ruthless bullying, handle a situation without only anger. He really had changed. The Hiei before all of this and the Hiei now would probably not even be able to recognize the other.

"Building on what Hiei said, the only clues we have for getting into Asami's dimension are the nightmare's scythe and this mirror's glass, but it's been broken in two. Though I don't have much experience with Kuro's blade, I've examined these pieces and have concluded that this material is not of human world origin. Therefore, we were hoping that you might have some information regarding them."

Kurama took one of the shards and passed it over to Koenma who hopped onto his desk and carefully took the piece out of his hands. He held it up in the light, thoroughly but gingerly examining it.

He scrunched his face and turned to them with a frown.

"I'm afraid I don't recognize this kind of material at all. However, we could check in the archives to try and learn more, but you were right about one thing for sure: this is definitely not from the human world. But I'm afraid this substance isn't of the Spirit World either. Which leaves-"

"The Makai," Hiei sighed.

"Yes." Koenma nodded.

Kuwabara gulped, "Wait, are we really going to have to go to the demon world just to track down what this thing is made of? What if this just leads to another dead end and we're just wasting our time?"

Hiei turned to him resolutely, "But it's the only lead we've got. If it's all I can do, then I have to."

"And you're not alone Hiei. We're going to save Ren and stop Asami. All of us." Kurama added firmly. Hiei nodded. He had to believe that they would. Failure was absolutely not an option.

"Okay, so next stop: the Makai." Yusuke groaned. "Always makes for a fun trip. I guess we should go saddle up Puu at Genkai's."

Hiei walked up next to Yusuke, "I'm going with you. I can go see Mukuro and ask her about the shard to see if she knows anything."

"Wait, Hiei," Botan hesitated, "Is that really a good idea? It wasn't that long ago that she, you know, tried to _hurt_ Ren... From what I understand, you didn't exactly part on good terms. What if she's still angry or doesn't even want to help?"

"Then I'll_ make _her tell me." Recalling the incident made Hiei angry all over again at her. 'Hurt' was putting it gently. Mukuro had tried to undoubtedly kill Ren and if he hadn't been there at the right moment, he had no doubt that she would've done it. However, as angry as he was, he knew that she was probably one of their better chances of getting any plausible information and thus, he had to. Besides, there was something that Mukuro had specifically said at the time that had never sat well in his mind and he needed answers.

Hiei turned to Kurama. "What about you?"

"With Yomi traveling, I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for him just for the chance of finding any information; we don't have that kind of time. I'd be more useful here to help Koenma check through the archives for anything that could assist us." Kurama said.

"Hey, what about me!" Kuwabara pointed towards himself, "Don't leave me out! I'm helping too."

Hiei smirked, "It would be too troublesome if you came along to the Makai. We have enough to be worried about without needing to babysit."

"Why you-" Kuwabara growled, but Kurama rested a hand on his shoulder with a comforting smile.

"We need you here Kuwabara. The more the merrier."

Kuwabara grumbled, "Yeah, right. Whatever."

Koenma clapped his hands, "Alright people, we have no time to waste then. Yusuke, Hiei be careful, but be quick if you can. You're right Hiei. As we are, we have no way of knowing what's going on and can do nothing; we're all counting on you."

Hiei and Yusuke nodded. Koenma sighed, and hopped down onto George's blue head who was still collecting reports while also unfortunately serving as the perfect step stool.

"The rest of you, you're with me! Come on George, quit crawling all over the floor! You're helping too."

They all went out the door, parting ways. Poor George, face planted on the floor, muttered a weak 'okay.'

~.~.~.~.~

"I didn't think we'd be back in this place so soon." Yusuke muttered, blowing away a few of Puu's blue feathers that had flown into his face.

"Hn." Hiei was in no mood for small talk. His eyes were fixed on the horizon searching for the all too familiar dome of the border guard's headquarters.

His eyes widened in recognition as soon as the curved top of the structure peaked over the horizon and he stood up without any hesitation.

"Hiei?" Yusuke questioned and glanced to where Hiei was looking. When Hiei took a step, Yusuke made a mad scramble to grab him so he wouldn't fall.

"Hiei!? What the hell do you think you're doing?" Yusuke freaked out.

Hiei glared at him and tried to shake him off, "I can get to Mukuro from here. You'll need more time to get to your land and flying over would just be unnecessary. Go on to your subjects and see if they know anything."

"Jeez, don't call them my subjects." Yusuke scoffed, releasing Hiei and running a hand through his wind-ruffled hair, "Are you you're going to be okay? It's a pretty big drop from here. It'd be safer if I at least had Puu take us lower."

Hiei raised his fist and a familiar, long since-used dark energy began to swirl around it, more dark and dangerous than ever "Safer? I haven't used my power in months, but I promise, any breathing idiot that dares come in my way is as good as dead. If you were smart, you should probably worry about the safety of the poor individualto come across my path instead."

Yusuke stifled a laugh, "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you've basically turned back to normal. I'll have to get used to you all over again." But then the smile dissolved from his face and he got serious, "Here, take this Hiei." He pulled out the familiar communication device and tossed it at Hiei who caught it easily. "Let me know as soon as you learn anything, since we're on a tight schedule and all. Don't do anything I wouldn't."

Hiei smirked, tucking the device into his pocket, "That's not exactly saying much."

"Hm, good point. Fine, don't be reckless."

"I can afford to be a little more reckless." Hiei countered, feeling his energy hum through his body.

Yusuke rolled his eyes, "I'm trying to be a good friend, but fine, just be a dick."

Hiei looked over Puu's side, judging the distance. He'd been joking with Yusuke, but he had no intention of being reckless. Ren was counting on him, and that was his ultimate priority.

He bent his legs and pushed down- and an instant later he was flying through the air.

Muscles and reflexes that hadn't been used in months sprang to life, almost achingly, and with his acute eyes he was able to catch sight of a branch to land on. This time he'd anticipated the lack of his complete strength and admitted that it probably hadn't been the smartest idea to just jump off the bird as he did, but he didn't want to dawdle.

Landing safely, he spared a second to look up and catch Yusuke's gaze hundreds of feet up in the air and gave him a nod to let him know he'd made it fine. He saw Yusuke nod in return and then Puu was flying off. He himself had no time to lose. He leapt forward and slowly but surely was able to fall into a natural rhythm from branch to branch, decreasing his chances of losing his balance or missing a step.

In no time and without any incident, he had reached the enormous dome, landing swiftly on an open balcony. How he had managed without his powers for the past few months astounded him yet again, but recalling what had returned his powers made his stomach drop and made him snap out of the brief stupor of adrenaline.

Once inside, he could sense Mukuro almost immediately. She had been close by, and not even that long ago. It still amazed him after all this time how, even though she had become more relaxed and docile after the demon tournament, she still seamlessly left such an incredible presence wherever she went.

He raced through the familiar halls that he had actually called home only months ago. Truly nothing ever changed here. On his way, he ignored every demon walking by, even the ones he recognized who tried to get his attention. He only had his sights set on one specific demon.

He slowed to a stop when he made it to the familiar door that marked Mukuro's living quarters, a room that he'd visited so many times in the past but under completely different and often better circumstances. Regrettably, this was not to be one of those times.

He stopped at the outside of it for a moment rather than just barging in like he usually tended to. He knew she was in there and he _knew_ that she must've sensed him by now, if not long before he'd even sensed her. He truly didn't know what she'd say or what she was thinking, only that he hoped that she'd cooperate without fuss and would tell him what he wanted so he could be on his way.

He might have to swallow his pride for this one, he figured. He didn't know Mukuro to hold unnecessary grudges, but when he himself hadn't yet forgiven her for trying to kill Ren, he couldn't be sure of how she felt about it. But that was also another thing. He still didn't understand _why _she'd tried to hurt Ren; they were for reasons that he was still in the dark about and Ren hadn't talked about it or provided any explanation why afterwards either. He was determined to find out right now.

Hardening his resolve and without further ado, he shoved the door open.

Like nearly every time before, the room was dark, nearly black, and the furniture hadn't changed either. Not that he'd expect it too. There were a couple of chairs and a small table and against the wall rested her enormous bed. On it, as he'd typically find her, Mukuro was resting.

As he approached, he could see her eye was closed but he knew she wasn't sleeping.

"Hiei... my, my. Don't tell me that you actually did what I said?" She spoke softly and Hiei glowered at her.

"What are you talking about?" He grunted.

"The last time I saw you was when you were still with that human girl. I told you to clean it up and then to come back ready for duty after you returned to normal. And now, here you are with no human in sight and back to normal. There must be an interesting story to that. Tell me, how long _did_ it take you for you to finally get rid of her? A couple of days? Hours?" Mukuro scoffed and it took all of Hiei's self-control to hold his tongue. He stuffed his fist in his pocket.

"Sorry, I'm not here for duty if that's what you were thinking." He replied evenly, pulling out his half of the shard of mirror.

Mukuro frowned, finally opening her eye to skeptically peer at him, "Now that's not very polite. To what do I deserve the _honor_ of your visit then, and so soon? I have to be honest; I would've bet that you'd still be angry about me trying to do off your pet."

"Mukuro," Hiei growled softly in warning, unable to help himself.

"Excuse me, did I say pet? My mistake. _You _are the one who is clearly the whipped dog."

Hiei was done with her games, "I have no time for your nonsense! I need you to tell me everything and anything you can about this." He sent the shard flying at her and she easily caught it between her fingers, finally sitting up and looking at him head on.

"If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were aiming for my head." She mused.

"_Do_ you know any better?"

Mukuro ignored him as Hiei proceeded to explain, "The shard used to be a part of a mirror that could open a portal to a different dimension. We also think it's the same material as the blade, a scythe, of one of our enemies that can actually cut space. We can't figure how to get back to that dimension though and this is the only lead we have. Know anything about it?"

"Jeez Hiei, you know I haven't even received so much as a hello from you yet. I see that your bond has broken as well. Congratulations." Mukuro conversed, not even looking at the shard. "Or judging by the pathetic look on your face, should I be offering my condolences instead?"

"Mukuro," his voice was cold, dark.

"Hiei," She responded challengingly, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

He growled loudly, "I don't have time for this. Ren's in danger!"

The room seemed to turn cold and even darker as Mukuro went silent, all hint of amusement gone, and she slowly stood up. Hiei held his ground, but he could _feel_ her anger, as if it was radiating off of her in heated waves.

"And why," She began quietly, slowly, "should I give a _fuck_?"

Red eyes widened. Her reaction was almost...interesting, to say the least. By now, he thought he'd had a solid understanding of the kind of person Mukuro was and how her mind worked, and he certainly had seen her angry plenty of times. However, this was not like those times. This was something different, and, if he hadn't known better, she sounded almost resentful.

But really...did he know any better?

He was silent for a moment, assessing the situation. He certainly wasn't going to fight her, so if he was to get anything out of her, he'd have to take a careful approach.

"She saved my life by sacrificing herself, Mukuro. I owe her a debt that I intend to repay." He said, gauging her reaction.

Mukuro just snorted, "That wasn't my question Hiei. I asked why _I _should give a damn; I could care less about _your_ reasons." Hiei frowned, gritting his teeth.

"Since when did you fall so low as to feel so threatened by a mere human girl?" He accused.

Mukuro's voice was low, her eye flashing dangerously, "I do _not_ feel _threatened._"

"Then why did you try to kill her?" Hiei lashed out furiously.

Mukuro crossed her arms, a knowing look in her eye, "A debt that you intend to repay, you said? Don't make me laugh."

Hiei flinched at her words, frustrated beyond belief on how he wasn't getting anywhere with her. Finally, he just yelled, "I don't understand what the problem is!"

Mukuro shocked Hiei then when she suddenly threw her head back and laughed long and loud, but it sounded hollow and scornful, "No Hiei, you just don't understand women."

She turned her back, suddenly throwing the shard back at him, "I can't tell you much. There is an old legend of a blade made at the Beginning, before the three worlds themselves were made. This blade was born, so sharp it could cut through space itself, as the perfect instrument to be used by the First Death, the first shikigami, himself. It was made because he had so many children until the world was too full to hold them all. With his blade, thus so became the three realms: the human world, Spirit World, and the Makai."

"That's ridiculous." Hiei seethed, "That's not a legend. It's a children's story. A fairytale."

Mukuro smirked, "So if you knew that, then why'd you come to me?"

Hiei crossed his arms, thinking, "If I'm supposed to go along with that and actually give consideration in that that story has _any_ merit then, what would a demon like a nightmare and Asami be doing with a power like that?"

"Tell me Hiei, you've been made aware of the relationship that once existed between Raizen and Asami?" she asked and Hiei was, again, shocked.

"Wait, you _knew?_ And you never said anything?" He demanded hotly but Mukuro shrugged.

"I'm one of the few that did know. You just never asked." She said matter-of-factly. "But there's a reason why their marriage was arranged. They weren't wed for nothing."

"What's that supposed to mean? Do you know more? Does it have to do with Asami's lineage?" Hiei fired the questions rapidly, but Mukuro brushed him aside, heading for the door.

"Don't you have somewhere to be Hiei? Isn't your human waiting for her knight in shining armor right now, or something like that? It'd be best not to keep her waiting." Mukuro chortled and Hiei had to repress his frustration.

"Fine, if you're not going to answer anything else, then at least tell me this." Hiei said. Mukuro paused at the door.

"Right before you tried to kill Ren, I heard you say something to her." It had been right before he'd reached their side. Her words had haunted him since then and he had to know what she meant. "You told Ren to, specifically, _reveal herself_.* What did you mean? There's something you're not telling me."

Mukuro turned to face him one last time then, her single eye cold, but solemn, "Hiei, Asami is not an enemy to be trifled with. She murdered the rest of her own kind and child in cold blood, and she never stops. If I were you, I wouldn't take her lightly. Actually, I wouldn't bother with her altogether. Hiei..."

Her voice grew quiet, almost sad, catching him off guard. Her body language had also closed up, dejecting him. Her entire demeanor had transformed from one of anger... into one of grief.

"Hiei, the moment your bond was broken, you became free. Free to leave behind Koenma and the Spirit World for good, and free to return here, with your comrades and me. However, I know from just talking to you that not once has that even occurred to you. Even now, though you're free, you are a prisoner. The Hiei I knew would never have fallen so low."

"What are you saying? I'm a prisoner to no one!" He yelled, her words caught him completely off guard. What did she mean by 'the Hiei she knew'? As if he was already dead. She wasn't making any sense. He was the same person as he'd always been. Wasn't he? However...her words had struck something deep inside him that disturbed him greatly.

She just shook her head and turned back around, "To answer your question though...who said I was talking to Ren?"

Hiei started at that, eyes widening, "What? What does that mean?"

Mukuro just waved and finally walked out the door, "Good-bye Hiei."

"Mukuro!"

As the door closed behind her, Hiei couldn't help but wonder if that had been Mukuro's way of bidding a final farewell.

~.~.~.~.~

Koenma slammed the book in his hands shut with an unsuccessful sigh, chucking it over his shoulder. "This one's no good too! Are you guys having any luck?"

He peered down at Botan who only shook her head with a sigh. Beside her, Kuwabara was lying on the floor on his back, an open book covering his face.

"Please, no more reading...my brain hurts." He whimpered.

A beat later Kurama and George came around the corner with matching frowns.

"We haven't been able to find anything worth mentioning Lord Koenma." George admitted.

"Yes, I can't seem to find any useful material to help us either." Kurama said.

"This is hopeless," came Kuwabara's muffled groan from beneath his mini tent. Botan crouched down, removing the book with a frown.

"We can't give up yet Kuwabara! There has to be _something _here! Somewhere..." Botan tried encouraging them, but saying it out loud even made her own enthusiasm wilt. By now, they had gone through stacks upon stacks of useless books. George eyed them unhappily, as he'd definitely be the one who'd have to return them all once they had given up.

Koenma started swinging his arms around, crying, "This is completely hopeless! All we can do now is hope that Hiei or Yusuke actually find something useful in the Makai. Who knows how that's going anyways..." Koenma slid down his ladder and hopped up next to Botan.

"Botan, have either of them contacted-"

Suddenly, Koenma flew off his feet in surprise and jumped back when a loud tearing sound began to come from a spot a few feet in front of them. Slowly what began as a tiny black spot grew into a rounded, dark hole that had appeared as if from nowhere. And it continued growing.

Kuwabara was up on his feet in an instant, "What's going on?"

Koenma stood in stunned silence, bracing for whatever was coming through the growing portal, "But this is impossible! How is this happening?"

George scurried behind Kurama in fear as he pulled out his rose whip, preparing for the worst.

Amidst the utter blackness of the rip in the fabric of space, the silhouette of a figure slowly emerged from the darkness. The group's eyes were trained on the spot, unable to look away.

The figure stepped out, stepping away from the shadow of the hole and the portal swirled closed as quickly as it had opened. For a second, not one person dared move.

Then Kurama's eyes widened in shocked recognition, "But you are..."

* * *

><p>*reference back to chapter 17!<p>

This was definitely a low blow for me XD I hate cliffhangers because they're so evil... but it's another story when it's ME who's making them. MUAHAHA

Definitely not as long as the last chapter, but it's funny because, yes I'm the one writing them, but sometimes it feels like the story is writing itself and I'm just here to get it down. D: So I decide what I want to happen in one chapter to the next and etc., etc., but how it turns out is beyond me! I just go with the flow~

This is the first part of a five chapter arc so I hope you guys are ready O_O It's going to be awesomeee.

We're so close to the end, I can practically taste it. It's insane. It's also been pretty much 2, almost 3 freaking years since I started working with this. WTF. My baby is almost all grown up and I can't handle it ;A; But we've got a few more chapters to go so it's not totally over yet~! And there will still be my other fic, so it makes me feel better :3

Anywho, please review if you enjoyed (or if you didn't, that's okay too and I would love to hear some constructive criticism!) and I can't wait to see you guys soon! c: I love love love you all! *flies into the sunset*

Love, InuChimera7410


	27. Our Longest Day: Part II

One more week of summer schooool~~ Wooo!

And then back to college a couple weeks later... OTL

:)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 27- Our Longest Day Together, Part II<p>

_The flash of a silver blade._

_The ringing of screams and cries echoing._

_A golden string. _

_"NO! H-"_

"-ashi!"

_WHAP._

"_What_!"

With an alarming screech, I jerked back into reality so fast that I almost toppled over.

A rippling chord of laughter erupted around me and I wiped a small wet spot off my chin where I must've drooled, my face burning in embarrassment.

Overwhelmingly confused, I picked up my head only to come face to face with my teacher who looked anything but pleased.

He tapped a textbook impatiently against my desk, and his eye was twitching, "Ms. Hashi, the next time I find you napping in my class, I promise I won't be so forgiving. Understand?"

I nodded meekly as he continued, "Since Ms. Hashi has obviously not been following along, Ms. Suzuki, will you please read the next line instead?"

The class was still snickering and I, still slightly dazed, glanced over across the room at the student who had just stood up to read in my place, Mina Suzuki. Moments before, she had scrambled to put down her own book that she had been secretly reading instead. She had short black hair and big eyes that reminded me of a puppy's.

I blinked, pausing.

...What?

"I trust that you'll remain _awake_ for the remainder of the lesson, Ms. Hashi. Or you might just find yourself on cleaning duty after class." With that, he flipped open his book and continued lecturing.

However, it all just sounded like rambling and I still felt more confused than anything. I didn't remember falling asleep. I didn't even remember being in class. When had I gotten here? I could've sworn I had just been doing something else. It felt like I had just woken up from the deepest sleep, but that I still hadn't really shaken it off yet. Everything still seemed fuzzy, like I was still dreaming.

I rested my head on my arms, looking around at all of my classmates. Had I just been dreaming?

The room was almost spinning. Every time I tried to focus on a face, my vision would blur out.

I just felt so out of it and confused...something wasn't right. I groaned, resting the palm of my hand against my face. My head was pounding. It's like I had forgotten something. Something important. If I could just r-

"-en! Ren!"

My eyes flew open and I shot straight up in surprise, tangling myself into a spider web's trap of sheets. A snort of laughter at my side startled me and made me twist around. A pair of warm chocolate eyes stared straight down at me and the scent of honeydew tickled the air. The glow of the morning sun seemed to encase the lovely young woman who was beaming down at me.

"Sweet heart, I've been calling you! Your breakfast will get cold unless if you don't get up soon."

My eyes were wide and unblinking. For a moment, I hadn't recognized her, but it came in an instant. I had seen the same face over and over in so many dreams before. But I hadn't really seen her before, but I _knew._

The woman's smile drooped and her eyes grew concerned, "Ren? You just went pale. Is everything alright?" Her eyes widened.

"Ren! What's wrong?" She exclaimed, making me jump in surprise. "You're crying!"

"What?" I touched my cheek and pulled back wet fingers. Surprised, I reached up to touch my eyes; I really was crying. I tried squeezing my eyes to stem the flow, but they just wouldn't stop.

"I don't know where they're coming from, but...no," I answered slowly. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth, but I shook my head. Had I just been dreaming? What had I been doing before?

"No, I'm okay, Mom. I can't remember but it must've been just a bad drea-"

~.~.~.~.~

Shiro walked slowly alongside the smooth, unevenly cut cavern walls, letting the tips of her fingers drag against the nooks and crannies of the pink and white crystals. The walls cast the open room in a brilliant light, giving the illusion of a mirror-like surface.

Stepping away, she turned towards the direct center of the room. Like the many branches of a tree, deep purple root-like tubes stretched out from inside the crystal walls and gathered to twine into a single woven cord that reached directly down to encircle a translucent, glowing crimson orb.

Inside, Ren lay curled within, bare and comatose. For a moment, her body twitched as she slept, stirring the gel-like fluid of her prison slightly. Like a beating heart, the roots wrapped around her cage pulsed.

Shiro glanced at the blood-red pearl with a sinister revulsion. The only reason the girl's mind had yet to be utterly destroyed had been because of Asami's direct order to leave her unharmed. They had been faced with a set-back. Asami hadn't anticipated the link between her and the fire demon's souls to damage her as much as it had; the process of extraction and infusion of the soul had thus become slightly more complicated.

Until then though, she would remain asleep under Shiro's influence, trapped deep within a series of never ending dreams and nightmares until her own end. She almost wanted to laugh at how funny it was: her ultimate undoing would be her own self.

Regardless, the job would get done. Shiro would remain silent and obediently follow every word like she always did, because... She gently touched the white skin of her neck. White and unmarked. Unlike the red, branded collar on the one she treasured above all.

She clutched her stuffed bear close to her chest.

_Brother, it will be over soon...and then we'll be free. _

~.~.~.~.~

"Please don't tell me that trip was for nothing then. Hokushin just told me the same thing! What are we supposed to do now?" Yusuke exclaimed with a groan as he and Hiei swiftly walked down the path to Koenma's office, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the loud demons that frantically carried on with their work, completely oblivious to what was at stake. Hiei nearly threw one out of his way at one point, but fortunately for him, the demon accidentally slipped on a stray piece of paper, sending him flying the opposite direction and away from Hiei's wrath.

Hiei scowled in annoyance as they approached the familiar double doors, "Let's just focus on getting back to Koenma's first. Maybe he'll be able to elaborate more about this legend. Who knows if they-"

Suddenly, the doors flew open and Botan darted out, immediately spotting them and sliding to a stop.

"Yusuke, Hiei!" She squealed loudly with an abnormally large smile, "You're back so soon! How was the trip? Was the weather nice?" Grabbing one of each of their arms, she began to attempt to drag them away from the room.

Hiei stuttered in surprise. What in the world? Yusuke was at an equal loss of words though he was the first one to recover.

"Wha- Botan! What the hell?" Yusuke yelled, wrenching his arm away from her.

Hiei removed his from her grip as well and turned back towards the doors, "What do you think you're doing? Have you lost your mind?"

Botan's smile melted away, and she nearly tackled Yusuke, desperately trying to stop him from going any further, "Stop! Don't go in there! Wait Hiei!" Hiei who had disregarded her, sped up to avoid her second feeble lunge to grab him.

"Is this some kind of jo-" Hiei's words died instantly as the doors slid open and all conversation inside the room came to an abrupt halt. For a moment, he couldn't process what he was looking at. As expected, Koenma was in his chair and Kuwabara and Kurama stood on each side, but no matter how disbelieving it was, it didn't change the fact that _Tatsuya_ was standing in between them, his body half turned towards him to see the commotion.

A beat passed, but then everything kicked back into motion in a blur.

With a loud, savage snarl, Hiei leapt forward without warning and grabbed for Tatsuya's throat, squeezing it and shoving his body against the desk. Tatsuya made a choked sound, but did little to resist otherwise, his eyes eerily calm and resolute, as if he wasn't surprised.

But that had been anticipated. From both sides, Kurama and Kuwabara each grabbed a hold of one of Hiei's arms and pulled him back, forcing him to release his grip on Tatsuya. Unlike Botan's weak grip, theirs kept him grounded though he struggled against them much to his fury.

"Hiei, please calm down a moment!" Kurama beseeched, but Hiei still tried to escape their grip in vain. He didn't make it easy on them though, especially now that he had his strength back.

"_Like HELL I will!" _He snarled deeply, tense and furious.

Against the desk, Tatsuya coughed on air, touching his throat, "I thought you guys said you were going to hold him back if he tried anything."

"We got him, didn't we?" Kuwabara grunted coldly.

"We had half a mind to just let him," Kurama added.

Tatsuya rubbed the red band on his neck, looking away, "I guess I can't blame you."

"What," Hiei breathed, "the _hell_ is going on?"

Tatsuya didn't flinch, "Let me explain,"

Yusuke had gone equally as tense, Botan worriedly standing behind him, his hand already in the form of his spirit gun, but held low, "No, hold on, I can't say this picture looks exactly right. Why is Hiei the one being the one held back and not this guy, who, if I remember correctly, is supposed to be the freaking enemy?"

Koenma rubbed his face in exhaustion, "Wait a minute guys, let's talk-,"

"To hell with talking! Release me _now._" Hiei seethed, his enraged eyes fixed on Tatsuya who only glowered at him in return.

Kurama sighed, "Unfortunately, we cannot, Hiei, unless you promise to control yourself. He's come with the intention to help us."

"_Bullshit."_ Hiei spat at Tatsuya.

"Look, we don't have the time for you to throw a tantrum." Tatsuya finally addressed Hiei directly. "Decide quickly whether you'll hear me out or not and be done with it. I don't know how much longer I can be gone before the others notice my absence. And that's not it. As we speak, Ren's soul is in danger of disappearing for good."

Hiei instantly froze, gauging the authenticity of his words. With deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down and sent a dark look to Kurama who only shared a nod with Kuwabara and slackened his grip which Hiei promptly ripped himself out of. Though his entire body wanted nothing more than to attack him again, Hiei forced himself to retain a composed exterior and merely glowered at Tatsuya darkly.

"Hiei," Kurama said, "He arrived a couple of hours ago and has been providing us with information this whole time. We didn't know when you and Yusuke were to return."

"So we're supposed to trust him just like that because he suddenly began providing information?! And you believe him?" Hiei cried.

"No one said we trusted him," Koenma said with folded hands, "But he claims he came here of his own volition and right now he may be the only chance that we have for getting into their dimension."

"I understand why you wouldn't," Tatsuya said. "But I promise that you _can_ trust me. If you remember Hiei, it was me who saved your lives and helped you escape the first time you came to us."

Hiei stiffened, the memory returning to him. So Ren and he really hadn't been imagining it, but now what he needed to know was _why?_His blood was boiling, but unfortunately Koenma also made a crucial point. So he just gritted his teeth and stared at Tatsuya, demanding, "Okay, you said you can explain? Fine then. _Start explaining._"

"First off, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not here to help any of you; I'm only here to help save _her_, and maybe if we get lucky, stop Asami." Tatsuya said.

"And you really expect me to believe you when I undeniably _saw_ that it was you who carried her away." Hiei growled viciously.

"Yes." Tatsuya answered. "I didn't-"

"And I bet it was _you_ who even took her away in the first place, and maybe even held her down when that nightmare cut the bond." Hiei accused.

Tatsuya remained silent for a moment, "I admit that I was the one who took her there, but I didn't know that that was going to happen. I wasn't the one who held her down either. We didn't know it was going to affect her like it did."

Hiei's blood ran cold at his ominous words, "What do you mean?"

Tatsuya slid his gaze away, "Asami said the bond between your souls had existed for such a long period of time that when Kuro cut it, he might as well have torn a hole through Ren's soul. You should know, you should have felt it as well. But it's Ren's soul that Asami needs. She believes that her soul, despite also being a descendant, is actually the reincarnation of her only true daughter, Kuri. She intends to erase Ren and bring back her daughter, reborn, in a different but identical body."

"Even if that could possibly be true, it's impossible to put a soul in a different body," Hiei instantly snapped, but Kurama shook his head beside him.

"That's what we said. However, he already explained that Asami has found a way. Lucky for us, it's a very slow process and with your separation, it set back Asami's plans for a little which gives us a better chance of getting to her in time." Kurama said, but then he turned to Tatsuya in concern, "Except, you said something you hadn't mentioned before. The bond between Hiei and Ren's souls... what did you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I meant. That bond holding the two of you together went much deeper than just keeping you near the other. It was a connection of your souls, which is why it took such a toll on your bodies when it was cut. You were probably able to bear it better with your pain tolerance, Hiei. For Ren's human body though... it was too much." Tatsuya explained.

Koenma slammed his hands on his desk, his pacifier threatening to fall, "But that can't be! When I made the bond before it never did that with anyone else, and I've never even heard of such a thing."

Tatsuya shook his head, "I don't know how you did do it, but regardless, that's what happened, or that at least was Asami's conclusion."

Hiei quietly absorbed this. Their very _souls_ had been bonded together? If that was true, however it had happened, that would answer most, if not all, their questions that they had had about it; their direct access to the other's mind, the way they had been slowly able to move further away from each other over time as their souls slowly stretched out to accommodate the pull. Sometime along the way, they had been connected so long that they had existed as one entity which is why it had been such a brutal experience for him when the connection had been severed. But then, the only thing Hiei wondered now was how their bond had evolved that way at all?

"I know where she's being held and the way to get there." Tatsuya continued, "You were on track with your theory about the mirror and Kuro's scythe but I'm afraid that would have done you no good anyways. Only Asami has the power to transform objects to cut into dimensions. We were each given objects to access the portals," Here Tatsuya pulled out a silver coin, "But mine only has the power to create doorways as does the rest of ours. Kuro's is special and the most dangerous in that it can be used as a weapon."

Hiei stared at him. There was no dishonesty in either his voice or his body language and he was holding nothing back. Either he was a natural liar, or, as impossible as Hiei seemed to believe it was, he could possibly be telling the truth. Which only left one more question that mattered.

"Why?"

Tatsuya flicked his eyes back to meet Hiei's, "What?"

"I'm asking _why_. You said you were doing this for Ren, but what reason could you possibly have for it?" Hiei asked seriously, searching his gaze.

Tatsuya didn't answer right away. He moved away from the desk and walked up directly to Hiei who didn't move. The others in the room were silent, waiting with bated breath.

Tatsuya stared directly in his eyes, "It's because Ren was the first and only person to ever make me feel human."

Hiei hadn't expected that. With disbelieving eyes, he watched as Tatsuya turned to look at the rest of them unwaveringly.

"It's true that biologically I am human and my real name is Ryuu, but ever since Asami found me when I was little, I was renamed Tatsuya and was raised into a monster by a monster. I never had a 'human' life. I spent my days killing demons that she would send after me to test my strength. That was all I ever knew.

"It all began as an assignment as it was basically what I had been ultimately raised to do. When I was first ordered to lure and kill her, Asami had only assumed that she was important because Koenma had suddenly seemed to taken interest in her. We had not expected her involvement to only be a series of unfortunate events. However, the more we learned, the more Asami suspected. I was given the order to impersonate a student and spy on her, but something that I hadn't seen coming was the genuinely good time I spent with her. Before I knew it, I had grown so attached to her. It physically hurt me to betray her." Tatsuya touched the red band on his neck again.

"These bands... I haven't explained them yet. They're why we serve Asami as we do; they're made with her own blood. They're like shock collars, but instead of shocking they're made to kill. All of us except Itsuki and Shiro have been marked with them and the only reason Itsuki and Shiro stick around is to stay with Aya and Kuro. It's why none of us can disobey her. She holds our very lives in her hands, but I've made my decision. That's why we have such little time. As soon as Asami realizes what I've done, she can kill me anytime she wants. I'm a dead man walking."

He turned once more to Hiei, "You don't have the luxury of refusing to believe me. If you don't come with me soon, Ren will face something worse than death. 'Ren' as we know her will permanently cease to exist and all she was will only be but a memory; she doesn't deserve this fate."

Hiei looked down with clenched fists, sick with worry and anger, "No, she doesn't."

"Hiei?" Kurama asked as they all stared at him, waiting for his final judgment. Tatsuya didn't move, resolutely holding his ground.

"Okay." Hiei finally growled. "Okay, we'll hear you out. But don't think for just one second that I trust you. If you do _anything_ to make me believe that you mean to do anything other than what you've said, you won't have to worry about Asami finding out about what you've done. You'll be dead long before then."

Despite his words, Tatsuya actually grinned, "Fine. That sounds fair enough."

"So what's the plan then, lover boy?" Yusuke asked Tatsuya.

"_Yusuke!_" Botan shrieked and whacked him hard with her oar.

"OW! Why is it always _me_ getting hit?" He exclaimed with a stray tear in his eye.

"Show some sensitivity!" Botan quipped, glancing nervously at Hiei whose face had gone dark and sour, a murderous eye trained on Yusuke. Yusuke gulped.

"Well give me a minute," Tatsuya said wryly, "I didn't actually expect to be this welcomed with open arms."

Koenma slumped and said, "We don't exactly have any other option."

"Or the time for banter." Hiei muttered darkly. "Get on with it."

Tatsuya nodded, "Right. Anyways, it was gamble enough traveling directly here, but the fact that I'm not dead yet goes to show that I haven't been noticed yet. Asami is too caught up in her new capture to pay close attention, so if we're careful about it we should be able to get back the same way."

"When we get there, you'll all follow me. However, we'll reach a point where the hall splits and we'll have to separate." Seeing the look of distrust and cynicism on their faces, he quickly insisted, "One way will lead straight to Asami and I'll take the other to go straight to where Ren is being held. In order to save her, we'll have to maximize time and so the half will have to distract Asami for as long as possible, or in a worst case scenario, at least destroy the pod Asami is keeping Kuri's body in before her soul completely seals itself away."

The idea was simple enough, but actually making it work would be a different story which left them all deeply unsettled, but just as Tatsuya had said, they didn't actually have the luxury to not go along with this. Hiei's resolve was stone though, and he was prepared to do whatever it took.

"Don't think for one moment that I'll be letting you of my sight," Hiei asserted firmly, "I'll be going with you to find Ren."

"I can't say I expected any differently." Tatsuya said.

"Yusuke, Kuwabara, and I will take the other direction then." Kurama said in agreement.

"We'll kick her ass." Yusuke smirked, holding up a fist.

Tatsuya's expression didn't waver, "You'll have to be extremely careful. I can't promise your safety."

"Who do you think you're talking to? We've faced much worse." Yusuke boasted.

"We'll see." Tatsuya conceded.

Koenma stared long and hard at Tatsuya. He couldn't believe that they were about to put everything at stake in the hands of one of their enemies, but at this point they could only take a leap of faith and pray that this was going to work.

"Well, if that's all then and no more questions," Tatsuya turned around and flipped his coin. They all stepped back as it expanded and turned black in thin air, growing until it was large enough for a person to enter.

"Wait, we're going in just like that?" Yusuke exclaimed.

"How do we know that an ambush won't be waiting for us when we get there?" Kuwabara asked hotly.

Tatsuya smirked, "You're welcome to stay behind."

"Oh you obviously don't know us." Yusuke guffawed, flicking him off.

"Hn, even if it is a trap, I don't care. Nothing is stopping me from getting to her." Hiei said. "I'm ready to end this once and for all."

They stepped closer to the hole in space. Botan stood off to the side with Koenma who looked anything but confident.

"Wait, Hiei," Koenma called stopping Hiei before he could get closer as well and held up a long, dark object, "Don't forget this. It wouldn't be wise to go in unarmed."

Hiei raised a hand to catch his katana. It had been so long since he'd held it but it fit just right in his hand, balanced and deadly. He gripped it with resolve, sliding it into the belt on his side. Now he was ready.

"Make sure to keep in touch with the communication mirrors." Botan said, her eyes shining. "And just _please_ be careful."

Kurama smiled at her, "When have we ever not been?"

Botan managed a small smile of her own, "It's not so much you that I'm worried about."

Hiei hn'd, and Yusuke and Kuwabara just laughed.

Tatsuya paused, "Wait, Hiei, before we go," Hiei turned and watched Tatsuya pull back his sleeve. Wrapped delicately around his wrist was Ren's old ribbon, just as Hiei had seen before. Pulling it off, he offered it to Hiei, albeit reluctantly.

"I knew this was important to her, so I took it before it could be burned in that fire. It doesn't belong to me." He said, passing it over to Hiei who took it quietly, feeling the fabric run between his fingers like water as he remembered what this had meant to Ren. He closed his eyes with a smirk.

"What would I need this for?" Hiei said and returned the ribbon to him. "Give it back to her yourself. The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because I believe that Ren has the right to your ultimate judgment and as such, consider yourself spared. For now."

Tatsuya took back the ribbon, "There's one more thing. Before Ren was taken, she asked me to tell you something if I ever saw you again." He paused, "She said to tell you that she was sorry."

Something panged inside Hiei, but he only looked away and growled, "Tch, that idiot! Just wait till we get her back, and _then_ she'll really be sorry."

Tatsuya chuckled, "Sounds like a plan." He glanced at them all, "Ready then? We all need to step through together or Asami will be able to sense that you've crossed over right away. On my mark..." Tatsuya said and they all walked straight into the hole without another moment to spare.

Hiei closed his eyes, welcoming the darkness.

~.~.~.~.~

And just like that, they were all gone, the black hole swirling closed behind them.

"Koenma, we'll win this won't we?" Botan asked shakily, her smile vanishing.

Koenma couldn't answer right away, "All we can do now is believe in them. I just hope that they aren't too late."

~.~.~.~.~

"Where are we?" Hiei asked.

They had landed in a hall that appeared no different than the one they had landed in the first time they had crossed into this dimension, but Tatsuya was already running off in another direction leaving them no time to dawdle.

"We're as close to the fork in the road as I could possibly get us without being obvious. Having you guys invade the dimension probably is the last thing on Asami's mind so we're safe for now, but the closer we get to Ren, the more you can probably be sure that someone will be there by then. Let's just hope we make it before Asami notices. "Tatsuya said over his shoulder.

_Or he'll die before we make it there._ Hiei thought, glancing at the red band on his neck. They ran without stopping down a maze of corridors that Tatsuya navigated with ease, and he only slid to a halt when, as promised, they reached the end of a hall that branched into two different directions. Hiei couldn't tell if he was just imagining it, but there was just something about the right that gave him the feeling that he would find Ren down there.

Tatsuya gestured to the right, "We'll find Ren down this way. The left hall will take you straight to Asami's throne room as long as you don't take any turns."

_Lucky guess,_ Hiei thought.

Yusuke lifted up a flexed arm.

"Got it. Don't worry, we'll buy you time or my name's not Yusuke Urameshi, handsome spirit detective extraordinaire!"

"Right..." Kuwabara mumbled.

"Be careful." Kurama said, "Bring her back."

Hiei hn'd, "Count on it."

"As soon as we get Ren, we'll contact you and we're to meet back here. Let's go." Tatsuya said, turning to Hiei and with that, they split and began racing down their respective paths.

As they went deeper into the hall, Hiei noted the growing darkness and the fading decoration until at one point they no longer appeared to be in a hall all together, but some kind of rocky cavern. Before then, what had just been an inkling was now growing into a stronger and more confident feeling the further they went and he just knew that they were getting close to her.

"This does not exactly bring good memories," Hiei mumbled, and ran to catch up to Tatsuya's side who was leading.

"Earlier, you mentioned that Ren was in some sort of cage that you didn't know how to break open. Where exactly is she and how is she trapped?"

Tatsuya glanced at him, "I didn't stick around long enough to understand exactly what it was that Asami is doing to her, but what I did understand was that Asami has found a way to basically suck the soul out of her and transplant it directly into Kuri's grown body. Except, cutting that bond of yours was such a shock to her soul that even though Ren had given it up willingly, her soul dug itself deeper in, like a crab does when it's scared, so that it became harder to pull it out of her. It's being done as we speak, but the process was incredibly slowed because of it which is what gave us this time to save her. It's a gradual process, like drawing blood; her soul is being drawn out of her, but we can still cut the connection."

Hiei grunted, unconsciously pushing himself a little faster, "And if her soul is completely drawn out?"

Tatsuya closed his eyes, "We'll be too late. I'm worried though. I don't understand why we haven't run into- _what?_"

Suddenly, they slid to an abrupt stop and stared at the rocky wall that had appeared from the darkness.

A dead end.

Tatsuya cursed.

"Damn it!" Hiei shouted. The feeling must've been at its strongest now and Hiei _knew_ that she was just beyond this wall. She was so close, but just out of reach.

"What do we do now?" Tatsuya asked.

Hiei held up his hand, the dragon beginning to stir around his arm. He was going to smash this wall down if that's what it'd take to get to her. Nothing was going to keep him back.

"You might want to step aside if you don't want to burn to death. I'm getting through this wall." Hiei said.

"_I don't think so."_

Only then did Hiei's eyes catch the flicker of a shadow and the long, curved silver blade emerging on his side.

Hiei spun around and jumped backwards just in time as Kuro's black body jumped out of the shadow, scythe swinging down on him like a guillotine. The enormous blade sailed down and sunk into the stone ground as if he was cutting warm butter.

Kuro stood slowly, yanking his blade out of the crevice he'd created, the hold in space he'd simultaneously created closing up at the same time. Hiei could see a slight tremble in his shoulders. He was looking down.

"Tatsuya... what do you think you're doing?" He growled deeply.

Tatsuya didn't hesitate, "I'm here to put a stop to this."

"What are you thinking? This is suicide! The minute Asami hears of this..." Kuro growled, looking up, his eyes as black as ever. The identical red brand was such a sharp contrast on his own neck; no words needed to be said about what Asami would do the moment she figured out what Tatsuya had been doing.

"Back down Kuro," Tatsuya disregarded him coldly, "I don't want to have to fight you."

Kuro snorted, "You're kidding right? Jeez, I did not see this coming. Aya and Itsuki maybe, but not you... We were wondering where you had gone, but to actually bring these guys _here_... you've either lost your mind or really have a death wish."

Hiei wasn't in the mood for this pathetic exchange and raised his sword menacingly, "Let us through now, and I promise your death will be a mercy."

"I wasn't talking to _you_!" Kuro snarled viciously, baring his scythe threateningly. "If you honestly think Asami was going to let anything get to that girl, you have another thing coming. My job is to not let anything pass, you see, and if you think I'm letting anything get through, think again. I won't hesitate to cut you down."

Tatsuya cursed, "Hiei, we can't kill him. We need him alive to get through! He's the only one who can use that scythe."

Hiei crouched down, readying his sword, "I figured as much."

Kuro smirked, "Any last words?"

"Not today."

Hiei charged.

~.~.~.~.~

"I don't think we should've let Hiei go by himself with that Tatsuya!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"Well it's too late to second guess now," Kurama said.

"Hiei can take care of himself! He'll be fine. Besides, I think it'd be better if we _worried about our own freaking situation first!_" Yusuke yelled, rolling out of the way just as the ground was torn apart and stone spikes burst through.

They had barely avoided Itsuki's attack before Aya was upon them again, her poison claws missing Kuwabara by a hair as he scurried out of the way.

"No way am I letting you get me again cat lady!" Kuwabara cried out, but was abruptly cut off when Aya twisted in mid-air, whipping him back against the wall with a _crack_ and a flick of her tail.

"It's too bad your fire demon friend isn't here," Aya sneered, exposing her fangs. "I would've loved to kill him the most. Is he already dead?"

"Oh yeah, how is that hole in your stomach doing- _shit!_" Yusuke landed flat on his back trying to dodge a piece of piercing rock that Itsuki had chucked at him.

"Yusuke!" Kurama cried, slicing through one of Itsuki's spiky waves with a swish of his whip, but he had to jump back to avoid a hidden a wave right underneath it.

"I don't know how you got in here," Aya hissed, "but if you think we're going to back down like last time, you're in for a nasty surprise." She put a hand over her stomach where Hiei had stabbed her, leaping for another attack, "You see, I can't help but feel a little bitter; you ruined my favorite kimono after all!"

Kurama lashed out with his whip towards her, but she was fluid in the air and easily avoided each strike. One wrong move and she could be cut to ribbons, but Kurama was struggling enough just to whip anything. Itsuki kept upturning the ground so much that he had been forced to switch to the defensive.

If they kept this up, there would be no ground for them to stand on, let alone reach Asami.

It'd be too risky to send one of them ahead to leave the others behind to deal with the duo, and they couldn't even get past them as it was.

_This isn't good_, Kurama thought. _And if we're having trouble here, there's no doubt that Hiei is bound to be in trouble. Time is not our friend._

~.~.~.~.~

"Hiei!" Tatsuya shouted, signaling Hiei to move out of the way as Tatsuya hurled a green bomb at Kuro. With an angry grunt, Kuro cut the air in front of him, swallowing the bomb whole.

Blood rushing, Hiei didn't waste a moment, rebounding off the wall and swinging his sword at Kuro's back. Noticing Hiei at the last moment, Kuro stumbled backwards and vanished into the shadow of the wall, Hiei's sword coming down on nothing.

"Enough with these games!" Hiei shouted, although he was already panting. His body still hadn't acclimated back to normal. His sword was actually becoming heavy in his hands. If he was actually trying to kill, that'd be _easier, _but every time there was an opening Kuro kept vanishing into the shadows. At this rate, they were just wearing themselves out.

"Give it up, Kuro! I know you could care less about any of this so why are you still fighting so hard?" Tatsuya demanded, also breathing hard. He was using too much energy and his powers were beginning to weaken. It was becoming a struggle to even create an attack and soon he'd be defenseless.

"You know damn well why." Kuro's voice echoed around them angrily.

"From above!" Tatsuya shouted and they both jumped away, barely avoiding a fatal blow as Kuro sailed down on the spot where they had just been, and disappeared once again just as quickly.

"We're not getting anywhere," Hiei growled, repositioning himself, though he had noticed something that might be used to their advantage. Kuro wasn't just recklessly swinging his scythe around- whenever he delivered a stroke, he did so with absolute purpose, which meant that he at least put a certain degree of calculation into them. Maybe... maybe the key to his downfall would be to somehow unhinge that calculation. He would never deliberately let them by, but if they could get him to do so unintentionally...

Reaching up, Hiei grabbed the white cloth around his forehead and pulled it off. He was aware that this was a dangerous situation for him; it had been so long since he had used the Jagan that he had no idea how capable he was of actually using it. If it proved too powerful for him to use, he could end up dead.

Even so, though it might've been a bad idea, it was the only one he had. There was no turning back now as slowly he felt the skin of his forehead begin to split open as the Jagan eye emerged once again and immediately his senses seemed to heighten ten-fold, the process all too familiar, yet simultaneously foreign. Fresh, revitalized energy surged through his body as he absorbed energy from his reawakened eye.

And he could _see_.

"You can't hide!" Hiei shouted, immediately pinpointing Kuro's location and slashed at the shadow.

Kuro let out a strangled cry and the shadow re-morphed into his body, darting away from Hiei and landing on the floor. The scythe slipped from his grasp as he crouched, his other hand pressed hard against his stomach. Blood, thick and black, oozed between his fingers.

"How the hell did you see me?" Kuro spat.

"You can't hide from the Jagan." The lone, violet eye shimmered dangerously.

Tatsuya cracked a smile, "I'm glad we're on the same side now."

Hiei regarded him with a cold look.

"I liked you better without that freaky eye." Kuro grabbed his scythe in anger, staggering back to his feet.

"Look who's talking about freaky eyes." Tatsuya spat out.

That had worked, but Hiei was already feeling the Jagan put a strain on his body. His body wasn't prepared for the strain or in peak physical condition. He wouldn't be able to keep it open for an extended period of time, so he'd have to make every action count.

Using the Jagan and without hesitation, Hiei telepathically projected himself into Kuro's mind.

And suddenly, he knew exactly how to take him down and lead him to his unraveling.

He just had to push the right buttons.

Kuro went rigid instantly, shocked, but began screaming like a feral animal, "_Get out of my head!" _He sent his scythe sailing at Hiei who pulled himself out of his mind and was able to avoid the attack.

If that had been a normal attack, the scythe would've hit its target. Hiei firmed his resolve and lunged to attack just as Kuro tried to disappear into the shadow again to retrieve the scythe, but he must've forgotten that he was no longer able to hide as Hiei grabbed him and threw him against the floor.

Kuro slid across, settling near his scythe, "Damn...you. You're seriously starting to piss me off."

Tatsuya stood back, helpless, as Hiei picked up his sword and lumbered closer to Kuro, the Jagan gleaming with superior power. He must've known that as long as Hiei used the Jagan, he stood no chance. And Hiei wasn't even at his strongest.

"Give up, and let us through." Hiei's eyes burned with a fearless fire, "You're beaten. And not only that... I saw into your mind. I know the truth."

Kuro's eyes widened as the gravity of Hiei's words sunk in. Releasing a feral cry, he grabbed his scythe and pushed against Hiei so hard that if Hiei had been a second slower in raising his own blade, the scythe would've cut straight through him. As it was, now they were trapped in a deadlock; the first to release pressure would be cut down which posed a problem. Hiei still couldn't kill him, but Kuro was more than willing on his part.

"Shut up!" Kuro screamed at him. Even without the Jagan, Hiei could see Kuro losing grip; slowly while keeping the pressure, Hiei began to back slowly.

"I know," Hiei continued, "About you. Your sister. _Your kind._"

"You don't know_ shit!" _For an instant, Hiei could feel a hint of a release of pressure against his sword as Kuro was affected by his words. He took the opportunity and twisted his sword, shoving the scythe off and going in for a lethal slice, but Kuro regained his composure right after and barely but surely was able to block the attack, pushing back harder. _Just a little more._

Tatsuya had noticed the affect Hiei's remark had made and tried prying deeper, "You can still stop this Kuro! If you join us now, we'll defeat Asami together and you can finally be free!"

Kuro snarled, his face flickering, "Shut the _hell up!_"

Hiei snarled, "Free? You know that isn't true. You'll never be free. Forever, you'll be running and forever, you will never be able to escape. Your existence is an abomination, and there's no running away from that."

With a ballistic and enraged cry, his eyes swirling pools of insanity, Kuro made a final push against Hiei that sent him to his knees and leapt into the air, scythe in both hands and ready to deliver a death blow, the razor edge alight with a deadly sheen.

"SHUT UP! _Die!_" And Kuro brought the scythe down.

Just as Hiei'd planned, though he was off-balanced, he managed to speed right beneath him, Kuro's thoughtless attack passing harmlessly over him.

"Hiei!" Tatsuya gasped in realization.

"_Fuck!" _Kuro shouted just as Hiei whirled around because that's when he saw it. Kuro's stroke had opened another hole in the air, but it wasn't black inside. Hiei could seeinto this one: beyond it, there was a room made of what appeared to be pink crystal and in the dead center…

Time seemed to slow as everything faded and all Hiei could see was that one rip in space that was already beginning to close. In seconds, it would cease to exist all together. Without realizing it, Hiei was already in motion, oblivious to everything else. He pushed his legs faster than he'd ever remembered- he wouldn't have another chance like this!

"_No! Shiro!" _Kuro yelled and aimed another swing at Hiei. He'd be cut down before he made it-

"_Ugh!_"

Everything happened at once.

Blood sprayed as a new hole was ripped open and closed, a howl of pain tearing through the air.

Tatsuya dropped to the ground, gripping the freshly raw stub at his elbow, the rest of his arm gone.

And Hiei vanished through the portal, just as it swallowed itself closed behind him.

* * *

><p>O_O<p>

I really am so stupid guys. I totally forgot that Kuwabara's sword had the power to open dimensions OTL Usually when I go on a YYH rampage and start watching the series all over again, I always stop at the Sensui arc for some reason and then tend to pick up during the demon tournament. It's weird how I do that, but I think it's partly to do with the fact that Hiei goes away for a bit so I miss him xD So forgive me for my dumbness! ARGH! The reason I'm not putting it in though is because I already had figured what was going to happen and mehhhhh~! So sorry if that was frustrating or annoying! XD

Anywho, I have to go finish a lot of homework and start studying for some finals. O_O I just wanted to put this up before I had to delay it for another few more days!

Thank you to my lovely Betim, as always D; I love youuuuu

I STILL LOVE YOU ALLLLL FOR YOUR REVIEWS AND READING. THANK YOU~! And please leave a review! They mean the world to me c:

Love, InuChimera7410


	28. Our Longest Day: Part III

Okay, so yes, I'm still alive! Yay for being alive!

So I'm just going to put a warning now that towards the end it gets really dramatic and I got a little crazy with it and there may or may not have been a lot of squealing while writing it... No shame OTL

This is also not beta'd because as soon as I finished it I wanted to put it up, so hopefully the beta'd version will come out sooner rather than later!

So without further ado:

Enjoy!

Chapter 28 Our Last Day Together Part III

Angry flames roared, tearing walls and structures apart as it viciously consumed everything around me. I screamed, choking on black fumes and tears. Wherever I turned, the fire followed, blocking off any chance of escape.

_I'm going to die!_

I was in hysterics, my throat stinging and clenching in pain as I hacked on the thick, choking air again.

I ran forward blindly, stumbling away from the lashing flames as much as I could. A burning piece of wood cracked under heat, falling from the ceiling. It barely missed me as I tripped, landing hard on the ground and out of the way before I could be crushed.

However, my arms landed in a spot of smoldering ashes and I shrieked in pain, ripping them away from the ground, the tears drying on my face. Panicked, I looked at my arms, expecting the worst but I couldn't comprehend the unburned, pale skin that I saw.

A blood curling scream pierced the air, tearing my eyes away and sending them desperately searching for the source. I didn't think as I raced between the flames. I wasn't alone in here; someone else was nearby!

_I don't want to be by myself... please..._

I burst into a hallway, crying in pain as the fire bit and clawed. My feet pounded against the wooden floor and all sounds of my sobs and heavy breathing where drowned out in the fire's roar. The very walls shook, threatening to collapse and bury me forever.

Eyes zipping all around, searching desperately for safety, they widened when a single brown spot presented itself at the end of the hall, somehow untouched and perfectly intact despite the flames that swirled and danced around it. A door!

Filled with a hope I didn't dare question, I raced to it and when I reached out, closing my fingers over the knob. This was real! This was the way out. I yanked the door open, unable to feel the pain of the splinters that dug into my fingers, so focused as I was, and stepped inside. There were two people standing a few feet away and my heart soared in relief. I knew those backs.

"Mako! Mom!"

A fresh stem of tears overflowed. I wasn't alone! I wasn't- I struggled to blink out the smoke in my eyes, but as they cleared, colors became more vibrant and the true scene pieced together with a terrible clarity.

Red.

Everywhere. On their hands, running down their arms, painting their faces.

The most horrifying was their eyes which stared straight at me.

They were white.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't scream. My legs lost their strength and I didn't fight as I was pulled down to the ground.

The fire rushed into the room, and their bodies caught fire, burning away in a swirl of ash and shadow.

Nobody was coming. This was the end. I would burn away into nothing with no one.

A different noise echoed then: not one unlike the flow of water. The tears dry and staining my cheeks, I turned around.

A fountain gurgled, the silver faces of the sculpture glowing in the moonlight. Something small and cold ran down my face. Raising a hand, I brushed my cheeks, pulling away damp fingertips. Confused, I touched again in disbelief.

_When did I start crying...?_

The park was deserted. A stray street light hummed steadily, filling the air with static noise. I jumped as a flock of birds burst through the tree tops and flew off into the night sky.

How had I got here? I could've sworn I was...my head hurt and a wave of terror swept throughout my body as the surrounding trees burst into flame before they vanished just as quickly as they'd erupted. All there was, was what there had been before. I trembled violently. The darkness of the night seemed to press closer.

_I'm afraid,_ I realized with a start and the fear came rushing back like a broken dam, sticking to my soul like tar, black and smothering. The stars in the sky burst, their lights blinking out one by one and the sky steadily dawned from a deep blue to black. Even the moon became swallowed in the dark.

Suffocating, I collapsed onto my knees. There was something important, something... My head began to pound and there was a memory, an itch, there; one so strong that it was driving me crazy.

Something, something I couldn't remember, but the sound of the fountain just kept getting louder until it was maddening, drowning everything else out until I could take no more, letting out a tortured cry. The tears kept flowing.  
><em>Help me.<em>

~.~.~.~.~

With an angry shout, Hiei landed hard, sliding across the cavern floor before slowing to a stop and regaining his balance. Groaning, he closed the Jagan; his head was already beginning to pound and he needed to save the strength that he had left. The hole he'd come through swirled closed with a _whiff_, Tatsuya's cry of pain vanishing with it. He hadn't seen what happened, but he'd smelled the blood, and a lot of it.

Though he might never fully understand why, Tatsuya had consciously made the choice to save him, giving him the opportunity to make it through and for that, despite Hiei's dislike and distrust for him, he owed him his gratitude.

However, all thoughts of Tatsuya and Kuro flew away as soon as he took in his new surroundings.

It was so silent here, unlike the chaos he'd just escaped. The walls seemed to be made of some kind of crystal that encased the entire room; there was no physical exit that Hiei could discern. The glassy blood-red orb he'd seen lay transfixed in the dead center, the thick purple veins encasing it pulsing like a heartbeat, keeping it trapped tightly in their grip.

_Ren_.

Blood rushing, he picked himself up and raced over to the suspended orb.

There she was, inside, eyes closed. She was curled up, her head resting along her arms. With bated breath, he desperately searched for signs of life and there was a beat of relief when he noticed the light rise and fall of her bosom. She was breathing, which meant that she was alive, but that wasn't enough to satisfy him. Though her physical body seemed fine, there was no real way to tell whether her soul still remained intact. Somehow he knew it was, feeling a stirring inside himself as he looked at her through the glass, as if a phantom memory of the bond was responding to his presence, but whether it was wishful thinking or not, he couldn't discern. He needed to get her out, now.

He wouldn't be sated until she was out, in his arms, and her eyes were alight with life and recognition once they saw his face.

"Ren!" He shouted, hoping for some kind of reaction. There was no response except for a light twitch of her fingers. He frowned, unsure if she'd actually heard him. He reached out to rest his hands on the red surface.

An electrifying shock, so much more painful than anything he'd felt from the bond or otherwise, ripped its way through his hands and throughout his whole body and he immediately leapt back, ripping his hand away before the sheer force could throw him across the room.

His hand smoked slightly and burned, but he paid no heed and only clenched it, enraged. The globe crackled with energy and slowly settled back into its regulated ripple as if nothing had happened. Ren remained untouched.

_A barrier,_ he thought angrily.

A gentle, clicking of a tongue was uttered and Hiei watched with his fiery eyes as Shiro seemed to materialize from behind the orb, her eyes glittering, sharp and unforgiving. Her hands hovered over the surface of the orb, but when she rested her palms upon it, she received no shock.

"Careful. You may look, but mustn't touch. Besides, it wouldn't be nice to wake her. She's dreaming quite deeply. Though I can't say they're necessarily pleasant. "

Hiei grit his teeth and growled, instantly reaching for his sword. His blood red eyes hardened with hatred.

"How did you get here?" Shiro asked curiously with her airy voice, hands still resting over Ren's prison.

Baring his fangs, Hiei drew his sword, "Release her now and I'll take care to end your life quickly. Now that I've had my powers returned, I'm not about to hesitate on completely eliminating you from existence."

She didn't react to his anger, slowly turning to face him full on, her eyes bland and secretive," I can't allow that." She began to reach out her hand, as if offering it to him, "How about we play instead? Come dream with me." It happened so quickly he probably wouldn't have been able to tell if he hadn't had his true eyesight back, but her eyes appeared to flash blue for a moment and there was the briefest pain in his head that vanished instantly. His third eye panged. What had she just done to him?

"I don't know what you're playing at, but I don't have time for any of your games." Hiei said, "What did you do to me?"

"I removed your ability to use your Jagan." She said simply.

Hiei's eyes widened, "That's impossible." But as he said so, he silently tried to move it around, but there was another sharp pang and he immediately stopped trying.

"It's funny," She said, not moving, "However strong a person may be, the mind is always most vulnerable."

"Enough!" Hiei snarled and charged without a second thought. He didn't need the Jagan to kill her, and once he did, Ren would be saved.

He was only feet away when Shiro's blank face broke into a grin and her eyes widened, "Oh yes, we'll have fun." And his sword struck her.

There was a sharp crack and Shiro split into pieces, like shards of a mirror. There was a burst of light as the shards snapped and scattered.

"What?" He jumped away, protecting his face from the flying glass. A giggle echoed in his left ear and he froze.

_How? _He knew the feeling of his sword striking flesh, it was second nature, so he couldn't have been mistaken.

He swept the sword around, felt it catch and dig into a soft body again and for a moment caught himself staring into her prism eyes before he was once more greeted by the sudden shattering of glass. He cried out as he wasn't able to protect his eyes fast enough this time and a few pieces flew into one eye, temporarily blinding it.

He landed by Ren's orb, reaching a hand to his face. Once he was able to open his eyes again, he could still see but he could feel a warmth begin to trickle down his cheek and when he pulled his hand again, his fingers were peppered in red spots of blood.

A pink and white shadow swept through the corner of his sight, his breath catching upon realizing Shiro seemed to swivel throughout the room as if _inside_ the crystal. She paused, smiled, and then her image was splitting apart into every face of the room until there was not an empty surface that wasn't watching him.

There was a single sliver of light before something thin and sharp flashed across his face. It stung and felt icy cold, but the blood that ran down his face was warm.

_From behind?_ Hiei thought, whirling around but just as he had his back turned, an identical object slashed him again from behind, digging deeply, painfully, into his shoulder. Hiei cursed savagely, gripping the little thorn and pulling it out with a single yank. A glass needle, shining with his blood, rested in his hand, but he cast it away when he heard the swish of more needles flying from the walls. And suddenly Hiei couldn't stop moving as they just kept coming faster, and faster until Hiei was twisting and curling and rolling as fast as he could, desperately trying to avoid the needles flying at him, deadly accurate, and no doubt aimed to kill if he let up for a moment.

"Come out and face me!" Hiei yelled out, but there was only a vague giggle in reply. The whirlwind of needles only became more lethal.

_Damn it!_

Hiei glanced at Ren's prison, slightly relieved to notice that though the needles would hit the orb. None were actually able to pierce it, but would reflect with an electric crackle each time. But he wasn't able to look at it for long before he had to move his eyes elsewhere.

He couldn't even get a moment to collect his thoughts and have the chance to switch to the offensive. He wanted to use his Jagan, as then maybe he'd have a chance to pinpoint the exact location of her body. He knew this technique; it was a common ability known among shadow demons. In each and every surface of the mirror and crystal walls, there she was, but all were an illusion, except one. But as she had somehow _removed_ the ability of his Jagan, he was practically blind and had no choice but to continue evading as many needles as possible.

But with this ability, came weakness. He did know that she herself must've been weak. Every time he'd faced her so far, her brother had been there to actually fight. Other than her telepathy, this must've been her only attack. If he could only find where she was, he would have her.

"Shit!"

He grunted in pain, as several needles skimmed his arm, and lost his balance. He stumbled and felt the barrage rain down even faster on him. In a desperate effort to protect his vitals, Hiei crouched down and rolled and pressed himself against the side of the walls. This way, she wouldn't be able to get him from every side-

"Guess who."

A searing pain erupted from his back and he flew away from the wall, turning just in time to see Shiro fading back into the wall, a red-tipped needle glistening in her hand. There was a pause in the onslaught then, leaving Hiei panting and clutching the tiny, but deep hole in his side. An inch higher and she would've pierced his heart.

_This is impossible_. He had been sure that she was somehow traveling through the walls and only shooting several real needles, the rest only being illusions so he would be left unable to tell which were real and which were not, but with that last attack he wasn't so sure anymore. It was like she really was everywhere at once.

"What's wrong? Tired?" Her voice echoed around the cavern. " I didn't think it would be this easy. I hope you've noticed that I've been trying to get a clean kill. Less messy, less pain. I would think you'd appreciate that."

He would've replied, but his comeback was replaced with a sharp wince, and he growled instead, rubbing away the blood running into his eyes from the various cuts on his face.

"I am impressed though. You noticed me at the last second there. If not, it really would've ended right there. "

"I can't let my guard down around you."

"I'm honored." There was a thoughtful pause and Hiei watched as Shiro fazed out of the wall beside him, merely staring. He grit his teeth. He couldn't even sense her moving! He didn't move, just watched her back, breathing heavily.

She glanced over at Ren's crimson prison. Hiei followed her gaze, suspicious and wary.

Shiro's eyes glistened thoughtfully.

"Why... do you fight so hard? Is it really for the sake of just one human girl?"

Her question caught him off guard. "What?"

Shiro's gaze didn't waver. "I just don't understand. Why would you go so far as to risk your life? To die?"

"I don't intend to die here."

"But you would for her."

Hiei couldn't bring himself to respond, or, he began to realize with a growing sense of dread, to _move_. She began to slowly approach him and he couldn't move, completely paralyzed.

He struggled hard, but his body refused to respond.

She was right in front of him now and she stretched out a white hand.

And then the walls shattered.

~.~.~.~.~

"Ren!" Hiei yelled, shooting upwards and reaching out.

Nothing made sense for a moment. Something was incredibly wrong. There was no cave, no crystal wall, no light. Instead, there was a bedroom, dark walls, and shadow. He knew this room. He'd been here often. This was-

There was a light exhale beside him. Instincts on high alert, he whirled around and his breath caught in his throat as his crimson eyes fell upon a silhouette trapped under dark sheets. Orange hair shifted as the figure turned over and the sheets shifted, falling to expose a pale, white, and nude body. A single blue eye opened.

"Mukuro."

~.~.~.~.~

"Why did you do that?" Kuro sneered, staring down at Tatsuya's crippled form. Hatred pooled in his black eyes. "Your stupidity is amazing. And now that you've betrayed us in every way possible you could think of, look at where it's gotten you. Here alone, bleeding to death. Was an arm really worth it?"

"Shut...up." Tatsuya spit out, the blooding running hot and viscous all over what was left of his sleeve . It'd only taken a glance to the right to see that there was nothing from his elbow down. Completely gone.

To be honest, he hadn't actually felt the cut . Even now though the blood was beginning to flow and his brain was registering what had happened, only a ghost pain, a growing ache, was beginning to take root in his arm, threading its way all the way down and even past his elbow. It had happened so quickly. He'd just seen Hiei running, the hole closing, Kuro's scythe... then he saw Ren in the room, and had just moved to do _something_. In a flash, Hiei had vanished along with the hole, and his arm was gone.

He'd been lucky that it was such a clean cut, as gruesome as it sounded. It might've been the very reason he was still alive. Otherwise he might've been bleeding out a lot more than he was, but it wouldn't matter for long as a light dizziness was beginning to set in.

His fingers shiny with red, Tatsuya clutched at the bleeding stump, grateful for the lack of pain.

Kuro's face was completely unsympathetic, cold and closed, "If you keep moving, you're just going to bleed out faster you know."

Tatsuya ignored him, staggering to his feet. He limped forward, a wave of nausea overtaking him so suddenly that he leaned sideways and fell down. A cry of pain ripped from his throat as he landed on his bad arm, the first real burst of pain he'd felt from it. His entire body felt paralyzed for a moment. He must've been losing more blood than he thought. The room began to spin.

"Look at you," Kuro spat, dragging his scythe across the stone ground, creating a irritating screech as he slowly approached Tatsuya.

Tatsuya's vision was beginning to swim. He could barely see Kuro's face as darkness began to spot his vision.

_Damn it, no..._

"You could've stayed, Tatsuya... I don't understand. Why did you choose death? I know you couldn't have been expecting to live through this. Even if you'd killed me, Asami would've hunted you down. You _knew_."

Tatsuya's hearing was the next to go as it was beginning to ebb away. He could barely hear Kuro now, let alone see him much. His body felt so heavy now, as if gravity was taking a firmer hold and just pulling down. Too tired to fight it, he slowly toppled over, landing on the ground. It felt a lot softer than before.

Kuro was shaking his head now. Or he might've been. He couldn't really tell. "You're actually dying aren't you. This is just sad... Consider this a mercy. You can thank me later in hell."

The last thing Tatsuya saw was a silver flash as Kuro raised the scythe before it all went dark.

~.~.~.~.~

A hand shot out and gripped the hilt of Kuro's scythe, abruptly halting Tatsuya's execution. Shocked, Kuro glanced to the side and found Minoru stoically staring down at them both.

Kuro's anger flared and he ripped away from his grip.

"Why did you stop me? The bastard deserves to die."

Minoru turned to him, and Kuro frowned, suppressing a shiver. His eyes were like ice, but burning with suppressed rage. There was no doubt that he knew that Kuro had let Hiei through, and therefore Asami, and the fact that he was still alive meant that he was treading on very thin ice. It was easy to forget that Minoru had once been Death himself, and as such, Kuro wasn't going to try his patience.

Minoru sniffed at Tatsuya's limp form, "Leave him. He doesn't deserve the privilege of a quick death, but that's not why I'm here. You're needed in the throne room."

Kuro started, "But Shiro is-"

"Is expected to actually accomplish her mission. So I suggest you shut up, and get going." He started to walk away, turning once more, his cool eyes flashing eerily.

"She's about to wake up."

~.~.~.~.~

"Stop running already!" Aya screeched with an annoyed and frustrated groan.

"Fat chance!" Yusuke called back to her, refusing to look over his shoulder. The three of them were on the run. They had seized a moment of escape and had taken off and had had the duo hot on their heels ever since.

"You guys stop running!" Kuwabara cried, without skipping a beat.

Aya hissed loudly, attempting to pounce, but only managing to barely skim Kuwabara's back which made him yelp, but she stumbled, losing her stride and lost several feet of ground before switching to all fours just to gain enough speed to catch back up to Itsuki's side who was also running after them. It was a high speed chase.

Kuwabara turned to Kurama and Yusuke, "Did you see that?! I was almost a goner! If we let up for a second, we'll be cut to ribbons!" With a cry, Kuwabara shuddered slightly in mid-run. "My back is already going numb! Gah!"

"Shut up Kuwabara and stop being such a big baby! Jeez, this is hard enough without hearing you whine every five seconds!"

"Now is not exactly the time to argue, Yusuke." Kurama injected.

"Well it's not like we're actually getting anywhere!" Yusuke cried, waving his arms around, but then letting out a yelp as he almost lost footing when Itsuki sent a couple of rocks up from the ground in an attempt to trip them. Without stopping, Yusuke flipped the bird behind him, "Hey, watch it shit-head!"

"Any ideas guys? We can't outrun them forever! We don't even know where this tunnel goes. What if we hit a dead end?" Kuwabara said.

"Working on it," Kurama said. He was brainstorming, but none of his ideas were exactly safe. If anything, they were reckless and were likely to fail. But it's not like reckless hadn't worked out for them before. Especially when Yusuke and Kuwabara were involved. They'd have to be quick though, but he trusted them.

"I have an idea that might be reckless enough to work, but we'll need to act fast." He said.

"Feel free to share it when you'd like!" Yusuke grunted sarcastically.

"These cavern walls aren't made from stone, but something much denser and such my whip won't be able to easily cut into it as it normally would. "

"Okay, so what?" Kuwabara asked.

Kurama explained his idea as quickly as he could. Kuwabara paled, but Yusuke actually snorted.

"That actually might be crazy enough to work! If we don't die in the process!"

Kurama managed a grin, "A little confidence would be appreciated. I just need you to keep them busy long enough. Now, on my mark Kuwabara,"

"I don't know guys, maybe we should think this over, plan this out a bit more-" Kuwabara started.

"Ready," Kurama said.

"Wait, but-"

"Now Kuwabara!'

Kuwabara yelped as Kurama and Yusuke darted to opposite sides. Letting out a groan, Kuwabara ran a few more steps and steeling his nerves, he skidded to a stop and whipped around, summoning his sword.

"Ugh!" Kuwabara yelled and charged.

"What?" Aya and Itsuki staggered, confused. Kuwabara continued yelling, swinging his sword.

"Are you sacrificing yourself for your friends? That's sweet," Aya popped her knuckles, "Well, I didn't expect this, but we won't let this noble act go to waste."

Kuwabara scowled, "Not today cat-lady!"

"Move Kuwabara! Shot gun!" Kuwabara dived to the floor as hundreds of ball of energy shot from Yusuke's bared fist. Aya meowed in alarm, but was quickly grabbed by Itsuki who yanked her out of the way and behind a spare rock just in time to avoid being hit by Yusuke's attack.

"Urameshi you _punk_! At least let me get out of the way first before you start firing that thing!"

"Shut up, I at least gave you a warning!"

"Next time tell me to move _before_ you shoot it!"

"Ever heard of the element of surprise?"

"Yusuke! Kuwabara!" Kurama called, ahead in the tunnel. His whip was out now, "We need to move _now_."

"Don't need to tell us twice!" Yusuke called and the two took off after Kurama. For a beat, Aya and Itsuki were stunned, completely lost, before they took up their chase once more.

"What the hell was that?" Aya hissed, but she nearly lost her balance when she began to feel the ground move beneath her feet. It began as a light vibration, but the walls were physically shaking now. Aya glanced at the wall in alarm while running and her eyes widened when she noticed a small, green bud.

_A plant!_

Buds were beginning to burst out all around them, but they didn't stop there, they kept curling outwards, reaching for all of them, growing faster and thicker by the moment and catching up with them all. They even began to _move._

Kurama lashed out at the weeds that would get near them. These plants were a special weed that he didn't particularly enjoy using, except for last resorts such as this. They required little energy to bloom and their growth speed was unmatched, especially in such a dark and dry place, but they were dangerous as once they began to bloom, even he could not control them. If they didn't find an exit soon, not only would they get Aya and Itsuki, but them as well.

There was a large crash behind them. The plants were doing their job too well. Not only were they growing and chasing after them at this point, but they were ripping the walls apart too by the sheer force of their growth and growing volume. Chunks of rock began to rain overhead, one nearly catching Yusuke on the head. Kuwabara was unlucky enough for one to actually hit, but it was small enough that it didn't stop him.

"Faster!" Kurama yelled.

"Kurama, I'm starting to think we didn't really think this through really well!" Yusuke yelled back.

"Great job!" Aya screamed at them, as she and Itsuki were dodging tumbling rocks now, "You've not only doomed us, but yourselves!"

However, just then, Kurama's eyes widened. He'd thought it was his imagination for a moment, but a very tiny hole appeared in the distance, but as they continued to run, it began to grow larger and larger. It wasn't getting bigger, they were getting closer.

"There's the exit!" Yusuke whooped. The cavern was beginning to cave in, but they would make it. Just a little farther-

Aya screeched loudly from behind, getting caught in a wave of falling debris, and making her stumble and fall over. The weeds really were working too well now and had loosened the ceiling to the point where larger chunks were beginning to come down. Risking the briefest of glances behind him, Kurama noticed that Aya wasn't going to be able to avoid the next collapse that he could see beginning to come down.

His eyes widened upon realization that Itsuki had actually stopped in his trek to actually turn around.

"Aya!" Itsuki shouted, backtracking to Aya's crumpled form. Acting out in desperation, he grabbed the closest thing he could take hold of which unfortunately happened to be her tail and yanked hard. She wailed loudly in pain, but was unceremoniously pulled and thrown forward with incredible strength. She crashed into the trio, giving them an extra push that left them sprawled on the ground, emerging from the mouth of the hole just as the weeds tore the remaining walls apart and _everything_ came down.

Kuwabara and Yusuke groaned in pain as Kurama regained his bearing, but Aya's demeanor had completely changed. She didn't even glance at them, whirling back towards the cave where rocks and weeds now closed off the entrance.

"Itsuki! Itsuki!" She cried, panicked, already oblivious to the heavily breathing trio who turned to watch her as she began to hit the wall of rubble and attempt to rip at some of the weeds that still flicked with life. Unrestricted tears fell down her face, her ears pressed tightly against her head. "Itsuki, are you ok?"

There was no response from the other side.

Several moments of desperate digging passed before she slid to her knees. Her shoulders were visibly shaking and her voice was thick with grief, "What have you done?"

Though they were still not completely over the ridiculous luck of surviving that close call, they all couldn't resist sharing a look at each other. And it wasn't just any look. They all knew what they were thinking too, which was even worse.

"Oh no," Yusuke muttered, "No no no no." He glanced at the grieving cat demon then back at Kurama and Kuwabara. "We are _not _actually feeling guilty for surviving that right now. We are not. _Definitely not_."

Kuwabara closed his eyes, obviously having an internal battle with himself, but Kurama couldn't hide the way his mouth pressed into a thin line, the way it did when he felt guilty.

Kuwabara finally glanced over at her hunched figure and groaned loudly, "...We can't just leave her there like that. I still have my honor code."

Kurama sighed reluctantly," Agreed."

"Damn it!" Yusuke cursed loudly, "We're just too nice for our own good! Why can't we be terrible people for once!" Yusuke scratched his head in annoyance, letting out an exasperated sigh, "This sucks _ASS_."

He got up and approached Aya, "Hey you, cat girl! Aya, right?"

She turned around only to find Yusuke's finger stabbing directly at her face and she blinked rapidly in surprise and confusion.

"Here's the deal. We've decided out of the kindness of our freaking hearts that we're going to help you, but try to screw us over and consider yourself dead. Kuwabara here happens to have a soft spot for cats, so consider this your lucky day."

"Shut up Urameshi! Now's not the time for your stupid jokes!" Kuwabara fumed, raising his fists.

"Well, it's not a lie!"

Aya blinked, her eyes already red from crying, then glared at him, baring her fangs, "What? You're actually going to _help_ me? Wasn't it just you that tried to kill us?"

She mewed in surprise then as Yusuke grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her up to look directly in his face, "Do I have to actually remind you that _you _were the one who were trying to kill us first? _We're_ the good guys here. Look, we've had a _long_ day and it hasn't been going that well for us, so we're not exactly in the mood to deal with your crap. So either shut the hell up and let us help, or not. It's your choice."

Kurama stood up, "It would be wise for you to make a decision quickly. There's a chance that he might be still alive, but the longer we wait, the lower that chance becomes."

Her eyes widened at that and though she tried to maintain her glare, an ultimately desperate look and even faint hope glimmered behind more tears. She deflated in his grip, closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

"I won't attack you anymore. Just please, please...save him."

~.~.~.~.~

Everything was cold. Everything was dark. Everything was bare.

A toxic blackness had taken hold somewhere deep down in the recesses of my being, sucking my strength away. I could barely keep my eyes open anymore.

Everything was numb.

There was a ripple of water as I sat up, little rivulets streaming down my face as my hair splayed out. I was in a shallow pool of water. White flowers were scattered on top of the surface, small and fragile, but I saw no beauty, only emptiness. I was empty.

I felt stripped away, layer upon layer, memories and emotions _gone_, ripped away as the water rippled out, carrying it all.

A name? A place? A feeling?

There was nothing to remember. Nothing to feel. There was only pain left and so much heartache, but even that was being stripped away until I felt the edges of nothing dawning.

A spark of heat flickered in the distance.

My being started.

No, not empty yet.

It was small, but it was there. A tiny light, a fire, sparked in me. It was so small, so insignificant, but it was all I had left. This light, this small flame was everything and I held onto it tightly although cold fingers were trying to pry it from my grip.

If I let go now, I would be lost. Somewhere inside me, the part that hadn't yet been stolen, cried out faintly, but I heard it loud and clear as it echoed.

"The most important..."

What could this small flame be that made it so important? What could this be to make me fight, to keep hold of the pain, keep hold of the sadness?

There was something in my darkness, but I couldn't reach it though it felt right there. Almost...

My most important... the flame sputtered, and the answer began to slip away.

I was lost.

~.~.~.~.~

"What's wrong?" Mukuro asked calmly, gazing up at Hiei.

"Mukuro," Hiei repeated in disbelief. This was wrong.

He'd just been somewhere else, been doing something different, something important-

Mukuro gazed at him cooly, a smirk on her lips, "Were you dreaming?"

"What?" Hiei started, feeling his anger already begin to rise, "No! No, I was..." Hiei trailed off, only more confused than before. Why was he here?

"You're still half asleep," She began to chuckle, "I know how to wake you up though." She swept her long legs over the side of the bed, but Hiei took a step back.

"No," He said.

"Hiei," Mukuro said, beckoning him forward.

Hiei shook his head, "No. Enough of this, I need to go." He wasn't supposed to be here, he was sure. He needed to be somewhere else, there was someone...

"Just let it go, Hiei." Mukuro said and suddenly she was behind him, her arms reaching around to trap him against her in a cold, steely grip. He couldn't move away from her. "You don't owe anything. You're not needed anywhere else, but here.

"Why are you hesitating? Let us be free of it Hiei, release our burdens. Or are you saying that you don't want this? Don't desire me, as I desire you?" She pressed herself closer against him. Her voice had dropped, had become low and husky and he began to tremble.

But not in lust. Only in anger.

He growled threateningly, "Release me, _now,_"

She laughed then, "They're all here, Hiei, deep down in that black soul of yours. Your desires, your thoughts, your fears, even. I can see them all."

"No," Hiei said.

"Why do you deny it when you know it's true? I know the real you, Hiei. The real you doesn't give a damn about that girl. You really could care less. Humans are weak, always have been, always will be. Have you succumbed to that weakness Hiei?"

Hiei felt her grip slacken a fraction and he seized the opportunity to rip away from, snarling, "Silence!"

She stared at him coldly, "Hiei, don't you remember? _Friends are crutches for the weak_." She mimicked him, beginning to circle him as if he were prey, "These were your own words. Have you fallen so low, become so tarnished by this worthless human filth that you've lost yourself?"

"Mukuro," He said in warning. His mind was reeling. He could feel something fading away then and he didn't know how to fight against it.

"Do you resist from guilt?"

"No..." He replied, in earnest.

"Why feel guilty at all?" She pressed, "What happened to the impenetrable Hiei, the one who had no loyalties to any but himself?"

Hiei stumbled backwards, falling against the bed. He tried getting up, but she was faster, pinning him against it. She lowered her mouth to his ear.

"Make that Hiei come back, the one that was cold, ruthless, _greedy_." With each breath, she pressed tighter against him. Grinning seductively, she reared her head and moved in close, their lips practically brushing.

"_Come back to me, Hiei_."

And Hiei's eyes widened, everything grinding to a halt.

_Those words..._ he'd heard them once before. No, not heard, not out loud... but he'd _felt_ them said. What seemed like such a long time ago...

There was another body above him now, smaller, weaker; a different girl. She was leaning over him and there was a warm feeling flowing throughout his entire body, replacing the settling cold with heat, restoring strength . There was a light pressure on his lips, but it wasn't Mukuro. No it was-

The girl raised her head, blue eyes dripping with tears. It was-

He could see her face, illuminated under the starlight and shimmering light of the fireworks. She turned to him with a smile.

"_Hiei._"

...Ren.

With an angry shout, Hiei shoved Mukuro backwards. She crashed into furniture, landing hard on the ground. She glared at Hiei, hatred pooling in her eyes as he loomed over her.

"You can drop the act already. Your illusion is broken, _Shiro_."

Her eyes widened in shocked anger and she began to bristle threateningly, picking herself up, but Hiei was beyond anger and he grabbed her before she could recover herself, throwing her against the wall. She cried out, reaching impact, and the illusion was broken with the echo from her cry.

Hiei blinked, his mind clear once more. They were back in the crystal cavern, having never actually left. His sword was even still in his hand. Mukuro had vanished having melted back into Shiro who lay hunched against the wall. Hiei touched his face, his shoulder, his side, and found absolutely nothing.

"I was right, you really do have no power at all. All of it, from the very beginning, was just an illusion. Even my wounds were only tricks of the mind." Hiei approached her menacingly as she struggled to get up, using the wall as leverage.

Hiei spoke darkly, "If you have thought for even an instant that I would let you get away with what you've just tried to do, I regret to inform that you are _very, deeply_ mistaken." Nobody did something like that to him and got away with it. He wouldn't just ruthlessly kill her, but she would pay.

Shiro glared at him with hatred, "You may have broken through my illusion, but I have not yet been defeated. This changes nothing Hiei. Everything I said remains true. I'm able to create my illusions by looking into my victim's spirit. Your soul was black and stained with blood, the person you were-"

"Is not the person I am." Hiei finished, clenching his fists. "No... not anymore." He knew that much.

She cackled, "Don't make me laugh. You can't just run away from your past."

She was instantly cut off as Hiei pressed his hand against her face, driving her back into the wall.

"You are not one to talk and you are _not_ the only one with powers of the mind; I saw into your brother. I know the truth of your existence. What abominations you actually are."

"Says one to the other," She said. "We are not so different."

"Maybe once," He said, "I know more than anyone that no one chooses to be born as they are, but that is not to what I refer. What you two have done cannot be redeemed. Even considered disgusting and macabre for the ruthless demons that we are."

Her eyes bugged out in rage, "_We had no choice. There was only us._"

Hiei pushed her harder, eyes glittering coldly, "There is always a choice."

Shiro looked at him with equal coldness, "Time has not _wizened_ us as well as you."

He squeezed her for a moment longer, before dropping her. Shiro unraveled on the floor, collapsing in a defeated heap.

His blood still boiled, but now he only felt pity for the hunched over form in front of him. He had broken her illusion, and had thus defeated her. She couldn't fight him anymore. All that was left was to make her break the barrier around Ren.

"Break the barrier." He demanded. She didn't say anything at first, and Hiei watched as a small, cruel smile began to take hold over her face.

"Over my dead body." And then Shiro shot up and rushed straight forward in a mad spasm. Hiei didn't even have to move as she propelled herself straight onto his blade and he watched in shock as black blood began to soak its length. Once more, Hiei's sword had struck flesh, but this time her body was real and didn't turn to glass and shatter. Shiro stared straight at him with mad eyes, pushing forward, sliding down the blade, and still didn't stop even as black blood began to spill from her mouth.

"With my death, her doom is sealed forever. It cannot be undone. You have no hope." Even as her eyes dimmed, they gleamed with unrestricted glee. "She will remain trapped within her dreams until death. Or can you dream in death? Or can you actually die without a soul? She'll just be an empty shell after all. With no memory, no afterlife. She will just disappear, cease to exist. I wonder... will _I_ dream when I'm dead?"

And then she died with a smile on her lips, and her body lost its whiteness as it turned black and turned to ash. Hiei let his sword fall to his side, the black blood the only indication that she had been there at all.

"Not if I have any say," Hiei said to nothing, but turned to face his next adversary.

_To hell with this._

He ran at it full force, sword swinging, made impact- and was once again met with an electrical force that propelled him backwards. Flipping in mid-air, he was able to land on his feet, but a beat didn't pass before he had rushed straight for it again, swung, and was thrown backwards.

Over and over, he beat and sliced against the glass, rippling its surface until the entire orb was vibrating in place.

_It's not true,_ he thought as he hit it. He refused to believe what Shiro said. He would get her out!

He jumped high, driving his sword down with a loud shout and then he felt the very tip sink through the surface for a moment before he was even more viciously thrown back. It didn't matter though, even though he was sent flying into the crystal wall. He had pierced through it. He had felt the surface give for just that instant.

_This will be it, _he thought. _This was the one that would get her out._

Something warm dripped down his hands and he was surprised to see the blood coating his knuckles. How many times had he struck the orb already? Hundreds by now, and now he was getting somewhere. He turned around to face the looming orb, steeling his resolve.

The orb was a swirl and rippled of electricity but Hiei could see where the energy was swirling around the fastest, that little spot that he'd cut into. It was already beginning to seal itself though so there wasn't a moment to lose.

Grasping his sword tightly, he charged at full speed. He had to be careful. Even if he succeeded in breaking the orb, she was at risk of getting hurt, but at the moment there wasn't much choice and he wasn't about to stand by and just let her go. Not now.

Not ever again.

He would break her free and save her. She would return to him _alive_.

Even if it destroyed him.

Time slowed as he got closer. His muscles rippled with exhilaration, preparing to drive the blade down with all he had. This blow would be everything. He was channeling it all into this one strike.

All they had been through, from their first meeting, their arguments, the time they'd spent together, learning and growing and _changing_... revealing everything that mattered. And then his head was once more filled with nothing but _her_. Ren smiling, yelling, tripping. The way she used to touch her ribbon. How she'd brighten when he ate her food. How her face became red when she blushed. The sound of her laughter. The splash of water they had made when she'd pulled him down into that fountain. The way the flush had traveled even to her shoulders that one accidental moment when he'd found himself on top of her. And finally, her face crying over his.

Shiro had been wrong. Everything she'd said had been wrong. Maybe once that had been him, maybe once he'd have succumbed but he'd been changed. He hadn't realized when or how, but it had happened slowly, and suddenly all at once. Completely. And it was all her.

It had always been.

Hiei leapt into the air, moving his sword over his head, and he came sailing down.

And what it all meant was-

~.~.~.~.~

The flame flickered.

It was no longer as dark and the shining light was beginning to warm my skin.

Where was it coming from?

My small light, my small flame, was bursting, erupting.

It hit me so suddenly, I couldn't breathe. Memories, feelings, faces.

Weakly, I stretched my arms out, reaching for my light. I was being pulled up from the void.

The light called a name and I knew it was mine. _Ren. _

Tears curves down my face because suddenly I recognized that light. _My _light.

I didn't stop reaching, I wouldn't. My most important thing-

~.~.~.~.~

"Ren!"

The sword struck the sphere on that single spot. For a terrifying second nothing happened.

Then a deafening _crack _resounded throughout the room. Blue lines of electric energy flared, but Hiei had to keep his ground, digging his sword even deeper even as the energy ripped its way through his body. He _wouldn't_ lose this chance.

The purple veins encasing the orb began to snap under the surge and spider lines began to branch out and surrounded the crimson shell. The entire structure began to tremble.

Hiei gripped the hilt of his sword, fire in his veins.

~.~.~.~.~

I could see it. It was right there, but it was just out of reach. The darkness began to rush and swirl, pulling me back, but it was so close. I desperately stretched as far as I could for the light that only grew brighter and brighter as I was pulled back, smothered to the point of suffocation.

My light - my most important thing- _him_.

The darkness was overpowering, but my voice returned to me and there was only one word that I wanted to say, one person I wanted to see, one person I wanted to touch. Only one.

~.~.~.~.~

He'd opened a hole large enough for his hand to fit and without a second thought, fighting against it all the while, he drove his hand inside, and reached as far as he could. She was just out of reach, but he wouldn't stop reaching out, she was _right there_.

Then everything stopped, and even time itself could've frozen over for all he knew because at that moment there was nothing except for the hand that reached out to take hold of his.

A warmth began to flow through him, one he'd never thought he'd feel again.

Her eyes slowly opened, alive and shining, and she was smiling softly. Her mouth moved as she voicelessly uttered one single word.

"_Hiei._"

Then he watched, powerless, as the eyes that had just opened, alive and shining, dimmed and grew dull, her hand going limp in his and the sphere erupted outwards as it shattered all at once.

And at that same moment, in a different room nearby, a slender hand reached up to touch the walls of her cage, and a pair of electric blue eyes opened anew.

* * *

><p>You guys, this is crazy because I literally wrote the scene for the ending of this chapter like 3 freaking years ago when I first came up with this. O_O And we're finally here... I literally can't even.<p>

Anyways, I'm really sorry, I know it's been months T_T I'm sorry, sorry, sorry. I feel really bad, but I've been trying hard at school and all that fun stuff...

This chapter makes me really embarrassed, happy, sad, and excited at the same time! I'm honestly really nervous to hear what you all think... but please don't hesitate (I mean it) to let me know in a review. This might sound creepy, but sometimes for encouragement I always open the review section and read some so I can re-motivate myself!

On a different note, I'm not sure that I'll be able to or even want to really dig in to the twin's back story, at least in this fic. I might leave that for a side story or something because what they did doesn't fuel the main plot in any way.

So, I love you guys. There's that :3 And I'll try to be back with more soon! The cliffhanger is pretty bad, I admit though... O_O sorry...

Love, InuChimera7410


	29. Our Longest Day: Part IV

I think I've kept you guys hanging long enough!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Chapter 29 Our Longest Day: Part IV<p>

"Ok ready? One, two, push!" Kuwabara shoved down on the hilt of his sword, wedging a rock up as Yusuke heaved at another, together managing to create a small opening. Kurama approached the hole.

"I'm going in. Do not move," He said and bent under the rock.

Yusuke whined under the weight, "Sure, take your time, we can do this all day."

Aya had remained still and silent the entire time, but with every moment, she had unconsciously gotten closer until she was practically leaning over them, her tail flicking sharply in agitation. Kuwabara, struggling to keep his make-shift wedge in place, grunted in effort, kicking his leg out at her.

"It would be a lot easier to do this without you breathing down my neck!" Kuwabara yelled.

She opened her mouth in what was meant to be a hiss, but paused and just frowned instead. Ears pressed low against her head, she scooted away. Ever since they had started digging out the tunnel, she had been extremely tense.

Yusuke glanced at her over his shoulder, "So what exactly is the deal with you two? This guy's obviously not just another co-worker. He's also human."

Aya bristled, "Our lives are none of your business."

Yusuke just rolled his eyes, "Oh please, don't bullshit me. At this point, you pretty much owe us your lives. "

Aya scowled and didn't answer at first until a few moments of silence passed and she finally relented, "Itsuki is... someone who has always been by my side. He's the only reason I'm here at all."

"What, he saved your life or something?" Kuwabara asked, now curious.

"He might as well have," Aya said, her voice becoming soft and sentimental. "Long story short, when I was just a kitten, I found myself running from a couple of demons and accidentally found myself lost in the human world. Itsuki was just an orphan child living on the streets. He mistook me for an ordinary cat at first, but he took me home with him and even nursed me back to health. We've been together since. "

"Ok, fine." Yusuke said. "But what made you guys come work for Asami? I'm getting the feeling that this wasn't your first choice for a career."

Aya turned away, "A couple of years ago, Itsuki was ambushed by some rogue demons. It was my fault... I did something stupid and he was just protecting me. That was when Asami showed up, defeating the demons in no time flat. She was going to kill us too, but I begged her for mercy and in the end, she offered me a deal. She'd spare us and even help him, but for a price." Aya touched the red band at her throat. "In that moment, I was prepared to do anything, so I said yes. So she saved him and I became one of her servants. I was prepared to leave his side forever, but of course when he found out, he had to come with me. We're all each of us has."

"Who would actually choose to come here," Kuwabara shook his head.

"He's not the only one," Aya said. "Shiro is the same way. Kuro has Asami's band of subjugation, but Shiro only came to stay with her brother. The things we do for the ones we love, huh..." She trailed off, training her eyes on the hole that Kurama had disappeared into a few moments ago.

Yusuke exchanged a glance with Kuwabara. They could relate to that.

"Hey Kurama, any sign of him?" Yusuke called.

There wasn't an answer for a moment and then, "I've got him, I'm coming out."

Aya got close again, more anxious than before. Kurama's figure emerged, dragging Itsuki's huge body out with him and Yusuke and Kuwabara released their burdens with loud sighs of relief. Not sparing a moment, Aya barreled past them, dropping to her knees beside Itsuki.

"Itsuki!" She cried, holding his face in her hands. Her eyes glimmered with tears at the sight of his rising and falling chest.

"He's badly hurt, but he's alive. I'm afraid the collapse broke several of his ribs," Kurama said.

Aya smiled, "I'd take broken bones any day." Then she deflated, letting out a quiet sigh.

Her cat-slit eyes flickered over them warily, "So I guess I'm in your debt now. I can't do much, but I can tell you how to find Asami." She briefly touched her neck, a dim look in her eyes. "As soon as Asami learns what happened, I'm done for anyways."

They were quiet for a moment until Kurama stood up again, "Your assistance would be appreciated. If we hurry, there still might be time to save you but only if we can defeat Asami. However, if we are successful and manage to save you, you both will willingly submit yourselves to Spirit World and be judged accordingly. Do we have an agreement?"

Aya just shrugged, a slightly sad, but amused grin on her face, "Hey, worst case scenario, I die, best case, I live. If there's any chance that I can survive and get us out of this together, I have to take it. So, deal."

She pointed down a hall and quickly described the way to get there. "You must be discreet though. If Asami senses you, she'll definitely change the path. You need to hurry."

Itsuki coughed sharply, startling Aya who went straight back to him. "Itsuki?"

He groaned lightly, muttering, "Why does it feel like I was trampled..."

"Oh don't be such a baby." Aya rolled her eyes and her voice was chastising, but the happy tears that streamed down her face spoke otherwise.

"Easy for you to say..." Itsuki flinched in pain as he shifted around, weakly lifting a large hand. Aya grabbed it, holding it tightly.

Kuwabara sniffed beside Yusuke who, despite his own misty eyes, yelled, "Are you actually crying?"

"Shut up Urameshi! I've just got something in my eye. What about you, huh?"

Yusuke shut him up with a swift punch to the face.

Aya ignored them, turning to Kurama. "I might never understand why you did what you did, but I... I can't thank you enough. Itsuki means everything to me. I'll remember the deal, so go now. You're wasting time here."

Kurama nodded, "Yes. Yusuke, Kuwabara," He called, abruptly cutting off their squabbling.

Kuwabara rubbed his eyes and fixed a steely glare on Aya who stiffened in confusion.

"Don't think this means I forgive you or anything for what you did to me at the park or anything else, but I'll let it slide this time. Consider yourself lucky." He motioned two fingers from his eyes to her and back.

Not really sure how to respond, Aya just chuckled awkwardly, incredulous. She couldn't really believe how things had just turned out.

Then they took off without another moment to lose and Aya simply watched as they went.

"Good luck," she muttered, cradling Itsuki's head. "For all of our sakes."

~.~.~.~.~

The crystal prison erupted with a giant shatter, sending countless shards flying. Hiei yanked hard on Ren's hand, tucking her tightly against his body as they flew backwards from the force of the explosion, blocking her from the shrapnel.

He collided against the ground hard, hissing sharply as he slid across the floor before coming to a stop. Pieces of crystal clinked and snapped under his weight as he sat up, readjusting Ren in his arms so her body wouldn't get cut from the ground.

She was completely nude, but this was no time to be bashful. It alarmed him with how pale her skin was; she was nearly white. She was breathing, but it was faint, and her eyes were even open, but Hiei had watched with his own as the light had left them. Like they'd found Yukina and Botan, they were only dim, glassy orbs that reflected and saw nothing.

For just a moment, when she had touched him, he'd really seen her, _felt_ her, as he had many times before when they were still connected by the bond, as her very soul, he knew, had reached out to him. He'd been so close, but just as quickly, she'd slipped through his grasp leaving him with nothing but a fleeting warmth.

"Ren!" He shook her gently, but there was no response as her head slid back like a rag doll.

"Damn it!" He yelled, a slight tremble creeping into his arms. "Damn it!"

He'd been too late.

There was tiny clink to his side, followed by another, and another and soon the tiny pieces of broken crystal began to rattle into an echoing roar that only grew as the entire cavern began to shake. Hiei stood up.

Were the walls caving in?

Acting quickly, Hiei ripped off his cloak, wrapping it tightly around Ren's body as a make-shift cover so it wouldn't come undone and moved her onto his back. The walls were splitting apart now as glass and crystal splintered and shattered all around them. The entire room was going to come down on them if he didn't do something quickly.

However, there was a soft sucking sound that began to grow from above and he looked up to see a growing black hole opening in the ceiling much like the portal they'd taken to arrive in the palace. Hiei dodge a falling piece of the wall and made a decision. He didn't know how or why but if that was the only way he could go, he'd have to take it; as to where it led, he had a suspicion.

Chunks of the ceiling had begun to fall, but Hiei could use them. Holding onto Ren tightly, he leapt straight up, bouncing off the pieces that were falling in mid-air to propel himself even higher and with one more high jump, Hiei was swallowed by the black hole, leaving behind the crumbling room.

As he went up there was a moment of nothing, but then rather than moving up, he was falling down and into another room, one he'd been in before, he observed. As he'd thought.

He landed firmly on the floor, still holding Ren securely against his back. He stared straight ahead, immediately catching sight of the lone, prestigious figure that gazed coolly back at him as she stood beside her throne.

"Asami." He growled.

Asami merely inclined her head towards him in greeting, "You're just in time, Hiei." She gestured to the side and Hiei stiffened as a blue orb nearly identical to Ren's pulsed steadily like a heartbeat. There was a girl inside exactly as Ren had been, but this girl was even more pale and her hair was dark. And she was awake.

Shocking blue eyes blinked in a confused daze. He didn't need to be told to know who this girl was.

Kuri.

And sealed away inside her was Ren's soul.

"To be honest, you surprised me Hiei. You actually managed to worry me for a moment. I'm impressed that you were even able to break through Shiro's illusion and not only that, but you even broke through the crystal. However, it didn't matter in the end. In your arms now only lies an empty shell."

As she spoke, Hiei could feel the lingering warmth of Ren's skin begin to cool under his fingers. He clenched her body tighter as if he could keep the heat inside that way.

"No," He said, his entire body quivering in anger. "I'll get her soul back."

Asami smiled, walking towards the blue orb, "It's no longer even her soul. Though in a way, it never truly was. But I can understand some of what you must be going through right now. I am no stranger to loss."

Every word coming from her mouth was making his blood boil. How dare she even try to sympathize with him, dare to try and _relate_ to him. It had him seeing red.

"I don't want to hear another word from your disgusting mouth." Hiei spat at her. Her smile flattened, her eyes cold and taunting.

"You were too late, Hiei." She said, resting her hands against the orb. "You couldn't save her and you will have to live with that for the rest of your miserable life." She paused, raising the tip of her finger to the blue surface. She sent him a chilling stare.

"I hope this is painful," She said. "Knowing that Ren forfeited her life to save yours. There was no happy ending waiting for you. This was how it was meant to be. Humans and demons can't be together, can't be happy... but this time, _I _will be happy. My child and I, we will start over, and this time it will be different. This body may contain Kuri's soul, but her mind will be new, like a child's and I will raise her again, from the very beginning. We will finally be together, and we will be happy at last. "

Hiei barely heard her, paralyzed as he watched her draw her finger downwards. Unlike his futile attempts, the glassy surface split perfectly under her touch and Kuri's body slid out gently, hitting the ground with a soft splash.

Her long, black hair fanned out like a flowing river, hiding the majority of her body like a sheet. It rippled quietly, sliding over her white skin as her chest rose and fell gently, taking in air for the first time. She began to shift around, exhaling softly.

"Shh," Asami crouched over her now, gently resting her hands on her shoulders, "Yes, sweet heart. Easy now. Slowly..."

A chill swept through Hiei. He was watching the girl move right before his eyes yet he still couldn't believe it, could not bring himself to accept it. It couldn't be over. There had to be another way.

Asami was being very patient, removing the top layer of her kimono to drape it across Kuri's shoulders to cover her body.

"Hello, Kuri... it's alright now. Oh, it's been so long. I'm here to protect you now. " Asami cooed, running her fingers gently through Kuri's hair. Kuri lifted her head and stared. However, her eyes were misted over in a confused daze. They were looking but they weren't really seeing. Hiei continued to watch in stunned silence.

"There now," Asami smiled at her. "Your name is Kuri, and I am your mother." She raised a hand to cup her face, stroking it.

Kuri went rigid, her eyes blown wide.

Asami flinched away, startled by the reaction. "Kuri-"

"Mama..."

The single word wasn't uttered in a tone of confusion. It was one of heavy disbelief, even repulsion. The mist had cleared abruptly and Kuri's eyes shone with a sharp clarity.

Asami had gone dead silent, even taking a step back.

"This isn't possible," Asami's voice shook quietly. The way Kuri had just looked at her, the way she had said her name.

It was as if she recognized her.

Kuri's shoulders began to shake as she slowly lifted her hands, turning them before her eyes. She rubbed the skin with her fingers, as if checking that it was all real, staring at them in disbelief. A new look was beginning to take her eyes and Hiei was shocked to see growing horror and despair.

"What have you done?" Kuri whispered and then she dropped her hands, spinning around on the ground to search the room. Her gaze landed immediately on Ren.

"No...Ren." Kuri choked in anguish, but not before yelping as Asami grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled her up to eye level. All the love had vanished from her face, replaced instead by raw and cold fury.

"How can you possibly know her name?" Asami seethed, pulling harder as Kuri. "You're not supposed to know anything. _You_ died." Asami practically spat in her face."Who are you?"

Kuri's frame continued to shake, but her stare was steely and she looked at her mother right back.

"It's _me_."

Snarling, Asami threw Kuri away from her, sending her across the ground. Kuri cried out in pain as her new and frail body hit the floor, rolling to a stop near Hiei.

_What was going on?_

Asami panted heavily and stumbled to her throne, reeling in shock. She leaned against it, dropping her face into a hand.

Kuri's arms shook as she pushed herself up from the ground, her blue eyes glimmering with a deep pain. However, she moved determinedly and pulled herself over to Hiei's side.

Hiei almost stepped back away from her, but with one look, Hiei was shocked still by the genuine despair and worry on her face.

"Please," Kuri said. "Please, let me see her."

_She means Ren_, he thought and warily crouched down to meet her. As soon as he did, Kuri gently grabbed Ren's face, pushing away stray pieces of hair. She squeezed her eyes in pain and several tears slipped down.

"No..." She whimpered.

Hiei couldn't stay silent anymore, his chest tightening.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

Kuri turned to him, withdrawn, "You know who I am."

"I do," Hiei said. "But that's not what I'm asking. Asami was right. Even if it may be your soul reincarnated, you shouldn't have any memories."

"Ren isn't my reincarnation." She said. "She's only my descendant... This may not be my original body, and I may only be the shadow of who I once was, but these memories I have are my own. I _am_ Kuri."

"No," He seethed, holding Ren tighter. "How is that possible?"

"Hiei," Kuri said. "You must believe me."

Hiei stiffened, "How do you know my name?"

"The same way I know Ren's." Kuri said earnestly. "Don't be mistaken. That time, long ago, I did die. I died giving birth to my child. I had purposely let my body grow too weak, but when I decided that I was not ready to part from this world, it was too late. I realized that I would be abandoning my little girl in this world with my mother who would always be hunting. She would be never be safe and there would be no one to protect her. So I made a choice.

"I couldn't leave her behind... so I would be there for her, and all her children, always. I would never leave their side, and I would hide them away forever from my mother, if need be. So with the last of my strength, I used my power to seal myself away deep inside my own child where I would be passed on for the centuries that followed, through the generations. My spirit has never been able to pass on, trapped within the recesses of my descendants, but I've needed a special energy to survive and thus the traces of ki passed down to them from me served as the only way for my soul to continue to exist and it worked well, unexpectedly causing a side effect I hadn't intended. To all, they only appeared more and more like ordinary humans. There was no energy for them to draw on for I consumed it. Ren really is just human, as there are only drops, if any, of mine and her ancestors blood within her."

"Ren's power..." A memory of their time spent at Genkai's shrine stirred. "This was what Genkai had sensed from the start. Then this power that she possessed, it wasn't even Ren's; it was you."

"For all this time, I've remained asleep within her, but then my mother appeared and I began to wake up, reacting to her presence. I've been conscious ever since, sending her warnings in any way I could, trying to protect her."

"All of her dreams and nightmares..." Hiei realized. Kuri didn't answer, but she didn't need to. "Then the bond, was that also-?"

Kuri's eyes widened, "That's right! The bond! Hiei listen, at that time-"

"Enough." Asami's voice cut in, sharp and furious. "All this time, and to go so far as to hide your soul within another." She barked out a harsh laugh. "You feared me so much to go to that length?"

Kuri's eyes turned hard with pain, "Yes. Because I knew that you would stop at nothing until you got your revenge."

"Is that so..." Asami's quiet whisper chilled the room.

Hiei sensed him before he attacked, but with Ren in his arms he couldn't do anything and an instant later, a curved blade pressed against his neck. Hiei's blood boiled.

"Miss me?" Kuro hissed.

If he was here, then that meant Tatsuya...

Kuri yelled as Minoru appeared over her, gripping her shoulders and shoving her back down to her knees, trapping her in an iron grip. Weak as she was, there was no point in struggling.

Asami approached them slowly and they were helpless, forced to resign to just watching her come closer. Kuri, unable to fight, and Hiei, holding Ren.

"One day I knew you'd come back," Kuri said quietly. "But never had I imagined that you would go so far as to try and _recreate_ me." Her words were bitter and full of pain.

"It didn't turn out as planned though, did it? You didn't want me, Mama. You never did. You're so full of bitterness and hatred that it consumed you... and I think that somewhere along the way, you realized that. No, you never wanted me. You said you want to be happy, but really you just wanted someone to rot away with you, wanted them to suffer as you do so you just didn't have to do it alone."

Asami made no indication that she'd listened to her, stopping in front of Hiei.

"Kuro," She gestured.

Hiei hissed sharply as Kuro kicked his side, more in anger than pain. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but he'd successfully been knocked off guard which was all Asami needed. In a flash, she had taken Ren from his very arms and proceeded to carry her back to her throne.

Kuri gasped in fear. Hiei immediately reached out as far as he could, shouting Ren's name, but was stopped when Kuro sharply pulled up on the scythe. He felt the blade dig into his skin and warm lines of blood began to trickle down.

Hiei growled menacingly. If it weren't for Ren being in Asami's grasp, he wouldn't have hesitated to try and snap his neck right then. He felt the dragon writhe beneath his skin in rage, but he had to keep it under control. Until Ren was back in his own arms, he knew that they knew that they had the upper hand.

Even with his powers, he was still just as useless.

"I'm really itching to free your head from your shoulders right now for what you got away with back in that cave." Kuro growled.

Hiei didn't stutter, still struggling although Kuro's blade continued to press deeper, "Abomination."

"Kuro," Minoru warned calmly, but Kuro disregarded him, his lips pulling back in a sneer. His black eyes were angry pools.

"I would really watch your mouth." Kuro said. "My hands might just slip."

"You have no power over me." Hiei said. "I beat you at your own game once, and I will again. Because I swear, if I lose her, I will have nothing left to hold me back, and then you will truly know hell. Your power is merely an illusion. I broke through your sister's, so don't think I won't break through yours."

"Shiro?" Kuro barked a laugh. "Don't make me laugh. It's impossible to break through Shiro's illusions. You couldn't break through her illusion without her choosing it to be so."

Kuro's confident tone caught Hiei off guard, and then it quickly became clear to him.

Asami paused in her trek, turning on the spot to glance at them, her expression unchanging.

"You don't know." Hiei said.

"Know?" Kuro said in aggravation. "Know what?"

"Your sister is dead."

"That's impossible," Kuro said instantly.

"No, it's not." Hiei said. "She pierced herself on my sword, thinking that she might accomplish keeping me away from Ren in her death, but it was in vain. She died for nothing."

Kuro's black pits had begun to widen as Hiei's words sunk in. With an angry yell, Kuro pressed the blade deeper, eliciting a grunt from Hiei.

"_Shut up._ She's _not_ dead. She's _not_-"

"Kuro." Asami's voice was tipped with a dangerous edge. "Enough."

The blade's pressure against his neck disappeared as Kuro's grip slackened. Hiei could see his weapon begin to shake.

"What? It's not true. It's definitely not-" Kuro said, but Asami cut him off.

"Your sister is dead. I watched her pitifully impale herself. I had expected more from her. In the end though, she only proved herself a failure, nothing but useless scum. It was quite disappointing. But, no matter. I acquired what I wanted, but even that," Asami said bitterly, words dripping in poison. "Proved to be a failure as well."

"Shiro is... she's... _no_." Kuro was frozen stock still, his eyes wide and unmoving. His eyes were trained on Asami, all others in the room forgotten. "You...you even _watched_ her? You just _let_ her die?"

"She had expended her uses. I no longer needed her." Asami said coldly.

The scythe began to rattle in Kuro's anger, his entire body alight with a dangerous aura. "Shiro..."

A black line of liquid, thick and black as oil, seemed to seep from the black pit that was Kuro's eyes. It was silent and glided as if it didn't even exist. The next moment, Kuro had leapt over Hiei and was descending over Asami, scythe raised high and deadly.

"You_ bitch_!"

Asami merely closed her eyes. "What a nuisance." Raising a single finger, she swiped it quietly in the air.

The red line around Kuro's neck flashed for an instant and then his head was flying from his shoulders. Immediately, the body and scythe fell down, the head flying backwards and rolling to a stop to the side. Hiei was close enough to see the expression of anger and deep despair within those dark pools a moment longer before like his sibling, the body began to flake away into dust. Hiei could not tear his eyes away from the spot.

"Now then," Asami said, finishing her trek to her throne as if nothing had just happened. She waved a hand beside her and the thick purple vines that had previously been holding Kuri's prison began to shift and move, creeping forward and growing upwards until they settled as a rugged platform which she lay Ren gently on.

Though free from direct threat, Hiei dared not make a move, his eyes slowly flicking between Ren and Asami. She had slain her own henchman without a second thought, only proving what Hiei had already known. They were only tools to her, he understood, and he knew that she would stop at nothing, even going so far as to reinvent her own daughter to get her way, to play out her delusional fantasy that could never be. She was prepared to destroy everything for it.

"Minoru, if you'd please." Asami said, settling down on her throne.

Hiei moved to help Kuri who was roughly shoved away by Minoru. He took long, unhurried steps to Asami, picking up Kuro's scythe that had clattered to the floor. Asami took it from him with a chilling smile.

"Now, what to do with you two..." Asami thought out loud, tapping a long white finger on her chin.

Hiei was tense and Kuri was silent. He kept glancing over to Ren, Minoru now idling right beside her, the wheels turning. When Kuri had been explaining, an idea had sparked in his mind and he had begun to hope as he hadn't dared before. She had said that she'd been inside _with _Ren all this time, and if what had been taken was truly just Kuri's soul, didn't that mean that Ren's was still there? It just had to be. If he could somehow get her, and manage to escape with Kuri, she might know something about bringing her back.

Asami followed Hiei's gaze and then blinked, suddenly looking excited as an amused twinkle came into her eyes.

"Of course! How did I not think of this sooner?" She said and then waved her hand again. An invisible wind assaulted them. Hiei was able to hold his ground, but Kuri was easily swept away by the force. She landed against a wall and purple vines appeared out of them, wrapping themselves around her body and trapping her there. Asami wasn't finished.

From the entrance, the doors burst open and a flood of hundreds of demons flooded through them, bustling and snarling. Hiei whirled around, his hand instantly around his sword and prepared to kill all he needed too. However, they avoided him completely and instead surrounded him, trapping him in a ring like area. Asami held out a hand and ES flew in, guarding on the edges of the large circle.

"What is this?" Hiei snorted, turning back to Asami. "These weaklings are no match for me. You think you can stop me with them? This is mere child's play. I won't let my guard down again with your disgusting bugs either." He held up a fiery hand in example.

Asami simply shook her head. "I'm aware, Hiei. By no means do I think these wretches would be a challenge for you. It is not my intention to insult you either, so no, they will not be your opponent. Minoru, did you retrieve Tatsuya's flute?"

Minoru nodded and pulled out a small cylindrical tube from his sleeve and exchanged it for the scythe. Asami took the flute gently, and for a moment she seemed a little sad as she looked at it.

"It's truly a pity..." she muttered, fingering the instrument, but then the gleam returned to her eye. From the side, Kuri gasped.

"No!" She said in horror, as she realized what she was going to do. "Hiei, she's going to-"

Asami started to play, and Kuri didn't need to explain as Hiei watched in transfixed horror as Ren's body began to twitch and move to the sound of the music. Her expression never changed, her entire demeanor as limp as it had been, but she moved as if she had been connected to some invisible strings. She rose quietly like a ghost, and slid off the platform, slumping. She began to walk forward. The sea of demons even parted for her and she easily glided through until she too was standing in the ring with Hiei.

His breath caught as he suddenly realized what Asami was planning to do.

Pausing in her playing, Asami reached out a hand and the skin around her wrist split open as red cords zipped out. They wound around Ren's arm tightly, wiggling, and weaved in between her fingers, encasing her hand first before proceeding to wind further down, twisting into a sharp point. Ren raised her arm across her chest, changing her stance. Her eyes stared listlessly ahead; on him, but not seeing him at all.

"You both have gone through so much trouble to bring ruin to my happiness, so I think it's about time I've returned the favor. For if I can't have happiness, then I am fully prepared to destroy yours and what better way to do it than before your very eyes. You, Hiei, will be the one to do it as well." Asami raised the flute back to her lips.

"What will you do now Hiei? Will you strike your beloved down before she can kill you or will you give in and let her end you instead? Live to see yourself kill or be killed by the one you love most. The choice is yours. I eagerly await to see what you decide." She began to play.

Ren charged, arm raised over her head.

_No!_ Hiei dodged the slice, leaping away from her attack. He barely had time to collect himself at all as she viciously pushed forward with her attacks, a marionette at the complete and utter mercy of Asami.

Fighting back was unthinkable. Ren had to be there still, somewhere deep down. He only had to reach her. And if she wasn't...even knowing that what stood before him could truly be nothing but an empty shell, he just couldn't do it.

Her moves were slow and sluggish compared to his own speed, but they were precise and deadly enough as he retreated, remaining on the defensive.

There just had to be a way to reach her. This couldn't be how it all ended. Not after everything.

She lunged, aiming for his shoulder, but he easily side-stepped the attack and grabbed her hand, halting it in mid-air. He brought his face to hers, burning eyes staring desperately into her lifeless ones.

"Ren, you have to snap out of it! Wake up!" Hiei shouted at her, but there was no response. "

"Hiei, behind you!" Kuri shouted.

"Damn!"

Hiei grunted from the stabbing pain as the cords pierced straight through his shoulder.

_From behind?_

He released her arm and jumped away from her, watching as the cords wrapped back around her hand, twisting back into a single point. Hiei squinted, holding his injured shoulder. _The cords can move then..._ This wasn't good at all.

"You're desperate cries fall on deaf ears. You're talking to nothing more than a corpse, Hiei." Asami chuckled. "Why do you keep running? You can't keep this up forever. "

Hiei stood back up, assessing his situation. Asami was right. It would be easy to cut her down as Asami was making it no difficulty to do so, but he'd already decided that that was out of the question. She was also right in that he couldn't keep this up forever. He could for quite a while, but eventually he would be worn down.

Ren attacked again and Hiei kept talking. "Listen to me. Hear my voice and remember. You have to fight her!"

Ren's attacks became more ferocious as time pressed on, showing no sign that she could hear him. Her speed only continued to increase, her attacks becoming more difficult to avoid as the cords began to snake off of her hand and aim for his vitals. Each time she would land a hit, the cords would cut right through him without mercy. As they continued their deadly dance, Hiei cursed when he began to feel his body physically begin to tire.

"Come now, Hiei," Asami said. "I'm getting bored."

He crouched down, staring at her from a distance. Blood began to drip from his wounds. She'd managed to create a deep gash on his arm and face, and had pierced through his leg twice. The wounds weren't life threatening, but the ones on his leg, he realized, really debilitated his ability to keep away from her. Asami had her moving nearly as fast as he could go.

As he watched her though he realized something else. The way Asami was manipulating her body was relentless and brutal. He could see as Ren's body, still only human, began to bruise and become beaten from the violence of her own attacks. In the process of trying to get him and making Ren's attack more powerful, Asami was destroying her body.

Taking a deep breath, Hiei tried again, "_Remember_, Ren! Remember how we met. Remember the others, remember all those horrible mornings, remember your uncle and the fire. Remember the time you beat me at Genkai's!"

She attacked, he dodged.

"Think of your mother..." Hiei shouted. What could he say? How could he reach her?

"No... think of _me_." He said.

Hiei spun around, throwing her away from him when she tried to take him from behind.

"You're sorry? If you think I'm ever going to forgive you, you can forget it. You made a promise to me and broke it. How dare you think your life is worth more than mine? You were a fool then, and you're a fool now! So _wake up! _Think of all the people who need you!"

Ren jumped the distance for another attack. Closing his eyes for an instant, he raised his sword and allowed his body to move, blocking her attack for the first time. Catching her off guard, she staggered backwards and Hiei knew he had the perfect opportunity. But he didn't take it.

"Our friends, who are putting their lives on the line for you, your uncle who's still waiting for you so he can wake up..." Hiei felt himself begin to tremble. Whether it was from rage or anguish, he couldn't say. "And _me."_

"Fight back!" Asami called out to him, rising. "Fight back!"

Hiei continued without missing a beat, "You asked me on that hill if I was happy. From the beginning and for a long time, I have lived my life alone, but through the years I gained comrades and allies until eventually, it became enough. Yet, you came and everything changed. That's not how it is anymore and it can never be again because now... " Hiei clenched his fist, eyes on fire. "How could you ever think I could be happy without you?

"You've obviously made your decision," Asami said. "So be it. I'm beginning to tire of these games and your ramblings. I won't drag it out any longer!"

In the next second, with an alien strength not of her own and perhaps breaking her own wrist in the process, Ren knocked the weapon out of Hiei's hand. This time, he was the one to stagger backwards, and he fell hard on one knee.

She raced forward. The world became slow around them.

She was really gone then. Nothing reached her.

Ren as he knew her no longer existed. Yet, looking at that expressionless face that had worn so many other emotions before, that had smiled, laughed, cried... he still couldn't do anything. He couldn't beat her, couldn't even try.

He had promised to protect her with his life and in the end, he had failed. The moment she had become his opponent, he had lost. How was he to know that it would come to this?

"Hiei!" Kuri shouted in fear, but Hiei began moving too late, unable to recover from her previous attack fast enough. The blood-red cords were coming right for him, but he refused to close his eyes or look away. If he was going to die, he was going to die with her face being the last thing he'd see, knowing how he had failed her in the end, how he was unable to save her.

"I'm sorry."

Kuri squeezed her eyes shut unable to watch, and Ren brought the point down, straight for the kill.

_NO!_

Hiei's eyes went wide with shock. The point had stopped inches away, hovering and shaking in place. He didn't dare move, but his mind was reeling.

He had just heard that. No lips had moved, neither from his or hers, but he had _heard _that, clear as a bell, the shout echoing in his mind.

He knew that voice.

Ren's expression hadn't changed in the slightest, but there was an abrupt flicker in her eyes, like a passing shadow, and then a single drop of water landed on Hiei's face.

Asami lowered the flute from her lips, eyes wide with rage.

"Impossible!"

Another drop of water fell and then another before Ren had tears quietly cascading down her face. Her entire body had slowly started to tremble. The cords on her arm began to slide off.

"What's this?" Asami cried out in anger. "Why has her body stopped responding to my control?"

Unable to contain her anger any longer, Asami waved her hand and another burst of wind sent Ren's body skidding across the ground.

"Ren!" Hiei shouted. She had heard him after all. He had gotten through to her.

"Curse you! I've let you live this long Hiei, but no more. I've grown weary of you!" Asami yelled, but as she spoke, from behind him there was an indiscernible shout followed by a loud blast.

Hiei turned towards the sound without thinking, covering himself to avoid the effects of the blast. However, it was a grave mistake because it was then that Asami's cords came out of her wrist and sailed straight for him, prepared to spear him through. Realizing too late, he struggled to move, but his injured leg gave out and he went back down. It was coming too fast, he wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time.

Then he saw her, stretching out, reaching. He felt arms wrap around him tightly and for a moment he was warm.

~.~.~.~.~

_Hiei run! Get away from me, please!_

But no matter what I said, no matter how loud I screamed, nothing went through. Trapped in my own body, I was forced to watch as I continued to fight Hiei who wasn't fighting back.

From the moment he'd broken me out it had been like this. I could hear and see everything, but I couldn't move or take control as if I were paralyzed. I couldn't do anything.

It was all a horrible nightmare.

Then Asami had started playing the flute and my arms and legs began to work, but I wasn't the one moving. I had no control over my body.

_Fight back, Hiei. _I thought desperately, choking on a sob that had no sound. _Please fight back. I can't stop! _

"Ren, you have to snap out of it! Wake up!"

_I'm trying, but I don't know how. I can't do it! You have to run away Hiei!_

I stabbed Hiei in the shoulder and still he did _nothing_.

"Listen to me. Hear my voice and remember. You have to fight her!"

_I remember. _I thought in despair. _I could never forget. I'm right here, but I can't break free from myself! Hiei, please... please..._ I begged to no one as I helplessly watched as I continued to slash Hiei, followed by two hits through his leg.

_I can't reach you_.

But Hiei still refused to back down.

"_Remember_, Ren! Remember how we met. Remember the others, remember all those horrible mornings, remember your uncle and the fire. Remember the time you beat me at Genkai's!"

I attacked, he dodged.

"Think of your mother." A pause. "No... think of _me._"

Another attack, another dodge.

"You're sorry? If you think I'm ever going to forgive you, you can forget it. You made a promise to me and broke it. How dare you think your life is worth more than mine? You were a fool then, and you're a fool now! So _wake up! _Think of all the people who need you!"

Hiei abruptly lifted his sword and I was knocked backwards. He had managed to stop Asami's attack. This was the perfect chance! He could stop me! He could get away.

But my heart only dropped when he didn't do anything.

"Our friends, who are putting their lives on the line for you, your uncle who's still waiting for you so he can wake up..." Hiei felt himself begin to tremble. Whether it was from rage or anguish, he couldn't say. "And _me."_

"Fight back!" I heard Asami. "Fight back!"

_Please, for your own sake, listen to her! _I couldn't take this anymore. This was unbearable. _You're throwing your life away for nothing! This isn't what I wanted._

"You asked me on that hill if I was happy."

My world vanished away and all I could do was stare at him, stunned, and listened.

"From the beginning and for a long time, I have lived my life alone, but through the years I gained comrades and allies until eventually, it became enough. Yet, you came and everything changed. That's not how it is anymore and it can never be again because now... "

Tears came hot a heavy. _Don't say it, don't say it please! It hurts!_

"How could you ever think I could be happy without you?

"You've obviously made your decsion." Asami said. "So be it. I'm beginning to tire of these games and your ramblings. I won't drag it out any longer!"

I lunged forward, knocking his sword out of his hand and across the room. I felt my wrist nearly snap from the speed of the hit alone. I couldn't feel anything, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered.

Hiei was down on one knee, the places where I had injured him before no doubt the cause.

Then I was racing straight for him. My arm rose, and I couldn't stand it any longer. He wasn't moving! He wouldn't be able to get out of the way!

As if from far away, I could hear Kuri call out his name in fear, but Hiei didn't react, only keeping his eyes on me. They continued to gleam in fiery determination. They would until the very end.

_Please, get out of the way! Run! Run! _I was screaming the hardest I could, fighting desperately against invisible chains in my immobile prison, but it all seemed futile.

Then I heard Hiei's final words, just as I thrust the point down over the space between his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

And something shattered inside of me and I felt the invisible walls begin to crumble down. With everything I had, I desperately tried one last time to fight back.

This was never what I had wanted to happen. I hadn't done all of this just to have Hiei die right before my eyes.

_No...no..._

I had wanted him to _live_.

_NO!_

I stopped my body, right before it was too late. Hiei looked so surprised, I really wanted to laugh and cry.

_Ren_.

I went still with shock. That hadn't been my own thought.

_Hiei, I heard you! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. _

The tears were coming fast and hard, and with joy I realized that it was becoming easier to hold back my arm as I continued pushing. I was regaining control again!

However, the joy I felt vanished when I was yanked away from him. I landed nearby but I still lacked complete control. I had to do something.

_Just... a little more! Just once more! Come on, come on, damn it! _

There was a big blast near the front of the room but I only saw Asami's attack heading straight for Hiei. He wouldn't be able to avoid her direct attack.

I barely felt myself begin to rise, fueled by only one purpose.

_MOVE!_

~.~.~.~.~

The demons that were unlucky enough to be caught in Yusuke's blast evaporated, clearing a path into the room.

"Hiei!" Yusuke shouted, followed by Kurama and Kuwabara who had weapons bared. However, that had been the wrong thing to do and they all could only watch as Asami took advantage of the distraction to attack Hiei. They wouldn't make it over there in time.

Then a smaller body threw itself in from the side, encasing Hiei in its arms right before Asami's cords speared right through.

* * *

><p>So... yeah... :I<p>

Please don't hate me. I know cliff hangers are the worst, but they're always the perfect points to leave off at. *cries* And this IS a five parter so it can't be helped. (That's right, there's only one more part!)

I'm sorry for not updating for so long. I had so much difficulty writing this chapter, I don't know why! So frustrating! I had no motivation, no inspiration, nada! I'm still not so sure I'm pleased with how it's written, but I just needed to get it out for y'all.

I know a lot of things happened in this chapter o_o I hope it isn't too confusing... it all makes sense in my head, I just don't know if I'm conveying it well. And if you understand, but you think it's far-fetched or dumb, then sorry, but it's my story and it makes sense in this world XD I still hope you all are still enjoying it. We're nearly there.

If all goes according to plan then there's only TWO MORE CHAPTERS. ASLDJFASL.

Okay, bye bye for now c: Love you all sooo much. Thank you so much for continuing to stick with me.

Please please please review! It's because of y'all and all the people who continue to read, favorite, and alert that I've made it so far.

Love, InuChimera7410


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